That's enough for me
by girltype
Summary: JA The girl is back...for the first time. and she's gonna give Alec a run for his money.
1. Visiting the freak nation

Author's Note: Howdy my peeps! Tell me the truth did you miss me? well here is the dealio…I thought it was unfair to ask you to choose between the stories when you didn't know what you'd be getting into…relatively. So I'm giving you samples. Chapter 1 of all three stories comin' your way, straight from my little room. The reason that it's three and not four is because me and the M/A are having a lovers spat, and it's gotten ugly. I have a couple days of doing absolutely nothing because the 'rents can't come get me till the 11th and well that's a while from now. So you the story that you like best gets done first…they will all be written! You're just deciding in what order. Ok. Try and review all of them just let me know which you want to see first. Oh by the way…the tarts thing, I was doing that. It's strangely more satisfying then hurling cheese out my window. ::shrugs:

Review! Please! ::sad puppy dog eyes::

That's enough for me

Chapter 1: Visiting in the Freak Nation

~*~
    
    Happiness, it's been no friend to me
    But forever after ain't what it's all cracked up to be

~*~

Alec grit his teeth as he watched Max walk away in a swirl of ebony hair, he took in a loud breath through his nose and fought the urge to strangle her. He looked at Joshua, who had been watching the exchange quietly, "how is it always my fault?"

"Alec get in trouble a lot."

"I noticed, but I've been good," he whined. "Why does she blame me?"

"Little fella unhappy," he said trying to be helpful. 

"That's not my fault, if she would just get her head out of her…"

"Alec!" Max called from across the warehouse where she was talking to the Arctic transgenic that they had saved two days ago. 

"Yeah?" He called back giving Joshua a glare.

"Can you get over here?"

"Whatcha need?" He asked as he made his way over past a transgenic that looked like he was more panther then human. 

Mole answered from behind him, "pursuit in progress. They have a transgenic cornered in sector five."

"Let's go," Max said smiling at him sweetly before brushing past him.

"Yeah, let's blaze," he said dryly, clapping Mole on the back affectionately. "We'll be back in a bit." With that he followed Max's swaying backside to their motorcycles. 

They were off without another word, Rich, an X5 that Alec didn't know too well, following behind on his own bike. All three exchanged glances after they made it into sector 5, Alec put a hand up to his ear pushing on the new ear piece that Dix had come up with for them to be able to communicate more easily. "Where are they? We're on Fourth Street."

"East of you," came the static-y reply. "You're not too far off, you should be hearing gun fire soon enough."

As if on command he did, and motioned to Max, smirking wickedly as he felt the surge of adrenaline flow through his blood. One thing he could say about the new transgenic paranoia was the chance to literally, and figuratively, stretch his legs. The routine was simple and they had it down, he and Rich would run interference, picking cops off while Max grabbed the transgenic on the run and made a break for it through the hole that we would make for them. So far the police hadn't figured out how to stop them. 

Alec flashed a smile a Max, knowing that she wasn't enjoying this half as much as he was. She really needed to lighten up. But to his surprise she smiled back and revved her engine as they took off past the sector cops. 

The gates to Terminal City opened smoothly and swallowed them, leaving the 'ordinaries' to stand unhappily outside. "Welcome to Terminal City," Max said the normal greeting with a smile and nodded towards Mole. "He'll take care of you."

"That was fun," Alec said rubbing his hands together happily. "Aw, come on," he called when he watched her roll her eyes. "Admit it, Maxie, you enjoy the chase just as much as I do."

"I have work to do," she shook her head and walked off but Alec was proud to note that she was smiling as she left.

"Max!" Joshua called from the warehouse.

"Yeah?" Alec stood listening to the exchange.

"Logan on TV." The flash of a smile on Max's face was all Alec needed to see before he decided to head out.

"I got work too, funny enough," he said to himself before waving to Joshua and getting back on his bike to head to JamPony. 

"Alec," Max called, "tell O.C. that I'll be at Crash tonight."

"All right," with a nod he was off. He navigated the streets easily and was back at JamPony in less then ten minutes and almost breathed a sigh of relief when he walked in and saw that Normal wasn't presently working on a transgenic free America. 

"It's golden boy," he called and tossed a package his way. "Run at Broad and Eagle in Sector 7."

"I got it," Alec called as he caught the package and nodded at Original Cindy who was coming up to him slowly.

"Hey, you seen my boo?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, said she'd be at Crash tonight."

"Well, I got some stuff I need to tell y'all." She looked over her shoulder to where Sketchy was quietly going through his locker.

Alec looked from Sketchy to her as his eyebrows pulled together slowly, "something wrong?"

She smiled and shook her head her hair bouncing softly with the movement, "no, it's all good." 

"Good," he smirked and turned to deliver the package.

Normal's voice followed him, "Careful, you're going near Terminal City, watch out for transgenics!" Alec just laughed and waved at him without turning around.

~*~

"Bo-ored," Jondy yelled into the way too quiet apartment, her lips forming into a soft pout as she stretched slowly, letting one muscle after another tense and release like a cat just waking up from a nap. She lazily propped her feet up on the kitchen table of her newest apartment, an abandoned building in Sector 7 of Seattle. 

She'd gotten a place close to the most action, just a block away from Terminal City. She couldn't say exactly why she had chosen to come here of all places and of all times, while the city around her went mad. She smiled, leaning precariously on her chair to reach for the bag of sweet tart hearts on her table without dropping her legs, not worrying about her own motives and confident enough in her own instincts not to question them. Still the present state of the city was a little depressing and she had to frown at the sad events going on around her. 

As if in answer to her thoughts she heard the heavy north city accent of a Seattle native come over the TV proclaiming his disgust at the thought of one of those _transgenic freaks_ dating his daughter. She snorted softly as she popped a red heart into her mouth, "bet you've checked out a transgenic chick or two," she said to the unhearing TV. Long blue fingernails picked delicately through the tarts in the shape of hearts until they found a green one. 

"Tarts in the shape of hearts," she said to herself. "I crack myself up," she informed the tart before sending it flying through the air and out her kitchen window. She picked out a handful, careful to make sure they were all green and tossed them and cried, "attack of the killer tarts!" 

"Home wreckers," she laughed at herself and then whimpered quietly, flipping gold and blue hair into her face and then behind her again. She rocked back and forth as her eyes wandered around the kitchen and into the living room looking for something, anything, to take away the boredom. Something that experience taught her was that boredom always led to bad things, like very unhappy authority figures. 

She smirked and folded her hands behind her head proudly, "but now I'm an authority figure." When they had all heard the news about Zack the decision had been unanimous to make her the new CO. "It's gonna be a bitch getting' in trouble with myself." It was going to be hard to sit back and laugh at Zane taking her suggestion to set all the animals from the pound free. And how was she going to convince Syl to travel across the country just to get some nookie from Krit and not tell her? She was still laughing about the sudden upping of status, though the reason for it was still a sore point. 

She missed Zack just then more than anything just then. The fifth of every two months was worse than any other time; it was his day to come visit her. She sighed and looked down at the sweet tarts, chunking more out the window, "ok, it's official…I gotta get out of this place."

She rubbed her hands together and narrowed her eyes tossing aside the contemplation of authority for the more important questions. What should she do to get rid of this annoying boredom? 

She hadn't gotten around to stocking her kitchen with food since she moved in two days ago. Her books were in San Francisco sitting in neat little boxes in Syl's spare bedroom along with a portable video game she had stolen a year ago. She'd already polished her entire collection of knives after making a large column, in the middle of her living room, into a target. The apartment was ill equipped to relieve her boredom and the Seattle streets were rapidly turning into a danger zones, everyone on the look out for one of those _mutant freaks_. 

"Hmm…" she smirked as she once again looked around her apartment, "Adventure, danger, _real food_, oh yes, the Seattle streets it is." She grabbed her denim jacket and was heading for the door without a second thought. 

When the door closed behind her however she stopped in her track. "I told me that when I get bored bad things happen…Did I listen to me? No, of course not. 'Cause I'm a little bi-atch." She took a deep breath and shook her head before smiling. "I have now scolded myself I can go out with a clear conscience." 

She took in a deep breath when the cold winter air hit her, promising snow before nightfall. "Beautiful," she said wiggling her eyebrows as she stuck her hands deep into her pockets and started singing happily to herself.

"She burns friends like a piece of wood, and she's jealous of me because she never could hold herself up without a spine and she'll look me up when she's doing fine. Because the rage it burns like Chinese torture. She's just someone's favorite daughter, spoilt and ugly as she willingly slaughters friends and enemies they're all the same. They'll burn her name and crush her fame." She ignored the glances her way as she slipped through the crowd with the languid grace of a cat; "She'll break a promise as a matter of course because she thinks it's fun to have no remorse. She gets what she wants and then walks away and she doesn't give a fuck what you might say. Because it cuts her up like Irish mortar. Mother's pride is what we taught her, spoiled and petty as we happily taunt her. Friend or enemy we're all to blame"

The frequent glances in her direction didn't bother her, she had been getting them since she had escaped from Manticore, the covert looks in her direction from under heavy lids and the soft smile of people who saw her face and never bothered to look any deeper. "She'll burn us bad. She'll flaunt her flame. She'll make us remember, remember her name. If she sits still like she knows she could, she could win this game and be the queen for good. Save herself up for the cream of the crop, then she'll look us up when she's ready to stop." She kept her eyes down, though, at the average man's chest level because when the rest of her just got noticed and admired it was her eyes that people remembered. The azure blue of the sky that split second before dawn, full of electricity and framed by the thick decisive strokes of long black lashes; they held the spark of something inhuman and powerful. 

The sign of any true Manticorian was the visible manifestation of the line between the two different worlds of sanity and insanity. Some of them had it more defined than others but they all had it just the same, even Tinga had had it and she had been the most put together of all of them. Jondy had it in spades, and it was hard to look into her eyes and not remember a time when man stood shivering in caves, even for her. People remembered her eyes. 

So she kept them down even as she nodded her head to the music that she had just noticed she wasn't singing anymore. She did a small dance step and smirked when a man passing by applauded her. 

She smiled as her eyes swept across the street where people had set up stalls to sell knick-knacks, miracle cures, 90's memorabilia, and food. She was grinning when she started for the booth that she could smell from across the street but her smile dipped when her eyes caught a group of men holding out tin cans asking for donations to rid the neighborhood of mutants. She watched as a little woman with stooped shoulders and white hair, looking sweet and grandmotherly, put a five dollar bill into the can and smiled up at him. 

Jondy suddenly felt sick to her stomach, she didn't want to walk by the crowd of men or the little old lady. She turned on her heel and started back the way she had come swallowing hard against the upheaval of her stomach. She had to fight the urge to run but she knew that would attract unwanted attention.

Usually she could find something funny about any situation but something about this set her off. Something about a sweet little old lady gladly giving money to help fund her death was mind numbing. It was the Salem witch trials, the holocaust all over again. "Stupid people, don't they ever learn from their own mistakes?" 

Someone ran into her shoulder hard enough to spin her around. She looked up into blue-green eyes that, for a second, seemed to take up her whole world before she could focus on the rest of him. Full pink lips, creamy skin, tousled dark blond hair, and a lean muscular body no doubt about it he was magnificent…and staring at her. 

Her breath was coming too fast as she looked up at him and he hadn't moved since his eyes had met with hers. With a shake of her head she turned away. She could hear the sharp intake of breath from behind her and it took everything she had to not look back over her shoulder and catch one more glimpse of him. 

She was relearning how to breathe when she suddenly heard the shouting, "he's one of them!"

"He was with the other one!"

"Teach him a lesson."

"Get the freak!"

Jondy turned to find the blonde backing into a corner and she was running even as she saw a man come up behind him and bring a pipe to the back of his head. Blue and gold hair flew out behind her like a war banner as she caught the pipe before it could land again. "Can I play too?"

Coming soon to a theater near you - Chapter 2: I'm _so_ good


	2. Blow your mind

Author's note: Well, this got more reviews than the other two, so for now I'm going to concentrate on this and the other two will come later…or should I say three since the M/A will eventually come. I still am a gigantic M/A shipper. I thought I should clarify that the whole Ben and Jondy thing didn't happen in this world, I don't think I could do the whole dating two guys that look exactly alike especially if the first one ended like that relationship did. Now I posted my last stories before the season concluded, a full three minutes before it started so I didn't get to make any commentary…I gotta say when the beginning was goin' on and she went "thank God for Logan," I was gonna barf. And started yelling "what about Alec, what is he chopped liver?" I was seriously considering just turning it off then cuz I could take another second of that angst-y crap that they've been shoveling down our throats for the season. Hey, I got rubber gloves so I could touch my girlfriend again, whoopdy freakin' do. Is it just me or did they ignore the fact that Logan thinks that Alec and Max are still an item? And poor Alec barely got enough screen time to make me happy. Alec should also be able to kick some serious ass and does he? No, he can beat up Normal…who can't? I know that I can't talk with this chapter but that will change in chapters to come. Maybe they'll keep Logan in Terminal City too long and he'll get all woozy and then they'll have to kick him out but it'll be too late. Ok so I don't want a dead Logan but I do really wish he and Asha would get it on and let us finally breath some air that isn't contaminated by his and Max's puppy dog eyes. My rant is now through… 

::the review junkie thrusts out her hands and looks pitiful:: please, sir, can I have some more?

That's Enough for Me

Chapter 2: Blow your mind

~*~

__
    
    A pretty man came to me
    Never seen eyes so blue
    I could not run away
    It seemed we'd seen each other in a dream
    It seemed like he knew me
    He looked right through me
    ~ Heart, "Magic man"

~*~

Eyes the color of lightening bolts, seemingly thirty different shades of blue all at once. . It was all he could think or see as he looked back over his shoulder to watch the quickly receding back. He couldn't remember anything else about her face because the eyes had taken every bit of his attention even as he watched her turn away. The eyes had been enough though. 

The distraction cost him. He was too busy looking over his shoulder at the girl that he didn't see when the men caught sight of him, didn't see the spark of recognition in their eyes from the time he and Joshua had beat them up. The feeling of someone grabbing his arm caught his attention though, and he heard loud and clear when the shouting started. He blocked a punch but didn't see the man coming up behind him lead pipe in hand. He felt the blinding pain as the pipe connected with his head even as he fell to the concrete his knees folding underneath him.

"It's one of those freaks."

"Kill 'em!"

With arms that felt like limp noodles he tried to push himself off of the ground but none of his body parts seemed to be listening, his face stayed firmly pressed to the concrete. The eyes were forgotten as he realized that this was how Biggs had gone. He, a soldier trained to kill from the day he could walk, wasn't going to die by another soldiers hands but by a civilian's, by vigilantes armed with crow bars and lead pipes. He held his breath and waited for the pipe to fall again, helpless to do anything. 

Nothing happened.

It took everything he had to force his head to move, the first thing his eyes landed on were clunky black work boots, with a stifled groan he looked higher. Following the line of tight jeans, up a blue WonderWoman t-shirt, over a denim jacket, and up to the hard face of a woman. Full red lips lifted in a cold smile as her eyes narrowed and a halo of gold shone around her. In her outstretched hand was the crowbar still in the hand of his attacker. Her delicate eyebrow rose, "can I play too?" a voice made of heavy silk asked quietly right before her fist connected with his chin. He learned how to fly right before he met with the pole holding up a stall's rook. It came down with a resounding crash and covered all but his unmoving feet. 

Cerulean blue and pure gold swirled around the lithe body as she turned pipe in hand and forcefully took a man's legs out from underneath him. "Gee, willikers, this is a fun game." She did a back kick catching one man in the stomach sending him stumbling backwards into another man and they both went down in a heap of moans. Her elbow came around and the leader fell in a boneless puddle without a sound. "It might be more fun if it wasn't quite so easy, but hey…" She did a back flip and the sickening crunch when the toes of her boot snapped one man's head back, breaking his jaw, carried down to Alec's ringing ears. "It's not like I can complain or anything, it _is_ your game."

Alec finally got his arms underneath him and managed to push himself up onto his hands and knees only to have a man stumble over him and go crashing to the ground. The world spun around him as he fell back to the earth, inarticulate shouts of anger filling his ears. 

"You should learn to relax," She smiled sweetly as she grabbed a man, with a shaved head, by the collar of his shirt and used his momentum and pure unadulterated strength to send him sailing through the air. He landed with a loud grunt on top of the first man still lying underneath the stall's collapsed roof. 

A strong hand grabbed his arm and lifted him fluidly to his feet and he once again met with those eyes. "Can you walk?" She asked tensely, her eyes darting at the men lying on the ground. It took him a second to register the movement of her full red lips and the words clicked inside his head.

"Yeah," he ground out. _'I must have gotten hit harder then I thought.' _He looked up unhappily at the sound of a hoverdrone. 

"Good," She said grinning at him, "cause we're gonna have to start running now." She tugged at his arm and urged him into a run. They were going at full tilt when she guided him into a sharp turn down an alleyway, the shouts of angry men following after them.

"Turn," he yelled, his brain finally starting to work right. He had to swallow past the lump in his throat to keep going. "Left, Terminal City is left." She didn't even look back at him as she turned, her hands still firmly in place on his arm as thought she was afraid he would fall without her support. His free hand came up to feel the back of his head gently, he sore under his breath when it came back wet with blood. She had reason to worry. He stumbled and suddenly her body was pressed against his, holding him up as the world around him shook. 

He couldn't help the realization that he liked the feel of her, but he shook it off also aware of the fact that men who really didn't like them were coming after them. He did his best to concentrate on the simple movement of moving his feet without stumbling; everything seemed in slow motion as his own breathing clouded his ears. 

She pulled him to her and turned into another alleyway far enough ahead of the mob that they didn't see. They stopped there for a long time with Alec leaning against a brick wall and her body pressed tightly against him. She touched the back of his head gently, careful not to come in contact with the part of his hair that was matting with blood, and pulled his head down to rest on her shoulder. He felt her nuzzle his neck gently in feline gesture of comfort that was strangely effective. "Try to get your breath before we have to start running again." He nodded mutely and waited for the next move, painfully aware of the fact that he was practically useless. 

The world went suddenly still as she pulled her body away from him and stuck her head out into the side street they had been running on just a few minutes ago. She slipped an arm around his waist and wiggled herself under his arm and started them moving again. Alec felt his eyes start to roll back and fought it off even as she shook him gently.

"Come on, dude, now's not the time for black outs, as fun as they are." Her voice seemed to come from far away even as he realized that her lips were right next to his ear. "You gotta help me here. I got the shirt but that doesn't mean I really am WonderWoman."

"You could have fooled me," he shook his head in a failed attempt to clear it and grimaced in pain. "I'm trying," he looked down into her eyes and couldn't breathe for a second. "There's blood pouring from my head, it'll slow anyone down."

"You have a point," she shifted her hold on him so that she was pressed more tightly against him. "We just don't have enough time for it."

He gritted his teeth as he nodded and saw her wince when a rock sailed through the air over their heads. "Turn down there," he pointed weakly, "we're almost there." He heard her soft grunt and guessed that one of the rocks found its mark. 

"Looks like I misjudged them, they're not extremely stupid they're just a lot stupid." She grumbled and looked up at him. "How much farther?"

"There," he nodded his head towards the tall dark building that made up the suddenly welcoming Terminal City. Her sigh of relief was loud in his ears and if he hadn't felt like he was about to loose his lunch he would have echoed it. 

"Will they get the gate's open before motley and his crew get here?"

"They should," he told her looking at where he knew the sentry would be. He saw movement and let out the breath he hadn't known he was holding even as the gates raised quickly. 

The woman grunted again as another stone hit as the gate closed behind them, "Motley has a good arm," she ground out as she let Alec rest on a wall. He slid down slowly to the ground let his head fall back gently against the old rotting wood.

"Alec!" He let his eyes shift to the side to watch as Joshua came running. 

He let a smirk spread across his face as he watched the woman's face for her reaction to the form that was coming towards them at full tilt. "Hey, big guy." She didn't even blink.

"You okay?" He asked looking as though he wanted to touch Alec's head but thought better of it.

"Just alittle bruised."

"More his pride then anything else, Doggy dog" the woman smiled brightly and knelt down infront of Alec and once again those blue eyes took away all higher brain functions. Her hand came up slowly and brushed the back of his head, she pulled back when he winced and nodded. "You'll be fine, you might not _like_ it, but you'll be fine." 

He watched her stand up slowly, a smile stretching her lips slowly, "thanks, for the whole saving my life thing."

She just shook her head and rolled her eyes, "not worth mentioning." 

"I'm…" he grit his teeth and took a deep breath, "Alec."

She smiled, flashing perfect white teeth and the slightest hint of fang, "nice to meet you. Call me J."

"Jay?"

"J." she nodded and turned back to the gate and rubbed her hands together. "All right, let me out." 

"I don't think that's a good idea," Alec looked up at her, his brow pulling together in confusion.

Her blue eyes shifted down to him again and she looked like she was thinking through the possibilities. "You're right," she finally said with a nod. "I should use a different gate."

"They know who you are," he tried to stand but his eyes rolled back in his head before he could get all the way there. Hands were on his shoulders urging him to sit down before he could open his eyes again.

"Yes, but I'm not too concerned." She looked over a Joshua, "get him to a medic before he bleeds his brains out onto the concrete." The look of horror on his face almost made her laugh but she looked down at Alec, "take care of yourself." With that she was off without another glance, her hips swaying with each step and Alec couldn't take his eyes off of her.

Then she stopped abruptly and looked down at the pocket of her denim jacket, her face pulled together in confusion as the sound of mechanical vibrating drifted to Alec's ears. "Wow! Note to self," she said with a smile, "put phone on vibrate more often!" She picked up the phone and blinked slowly before answering. "Hell's kitchen, Satan speaking."

"Satan? Satan said her name was Jay?" Joshua asked sitting down next to Alec in confusion.

"She's kidding about the Satan thing…I'm pretty sure."

She stretched slowly and Alec got the sudden impression that this was a woman who embraced her cat genes, and he found himself loving it. "Before we go into anything too detailed, Z, is this a pants or an arm conversation?" She moved her head slightly as though she was dancing to music coming from the other end of the phone. "Pant…that's good…what's her name?" She blinked several times before she started laughing. "She's named after a _mushroom_! I'm sure she doesn't mind too much 'cause at least it's an _exotic_ mushroom." She took a deep breath still grinning but obviously trying to stop laughing. "Did she pick her own name or were her parents just that misguided…She picked it herself?" She lost the battle slapping her knee happily. "You want to marry a girl who named herself after a mushroom? This is so rich, I can't control the laughter here." She whimpered softly and coughed, "I'm sorry, I'm being callous. I'm sure you're deeply in love with her, like the last _fifty_ you've told me about in the past month…Z, the month isn't even over yet."

"She's a very colorful character," Alec observed dryly.

"She's whack," Joshua agreed with a nod of his head.

"You'll call me with the next flavor of the week…maybe this time she'll be named after a fruit…take care of yourself." She hung up the phone and looked at it for a long time before shaking her head and scratching her head.

"I have to ask," Alec called and waited for her to turn to look at him, "what does a pants or arm conversation mean?"

She grinned and flipped a strand of cerulean blue over she shoulder. "Well, it mean either is a 'Help me my arms on fire!' conversation or an 'oh darn I'm not wearing any pants,' kind of conversation." She shrugged her shoulder as she slipped her phone back into her pocket. "It helps to know what I'm getting into ahead of time."

"Effective." 

"I think so," she smiled again with a wiggle of her eyebrows before she started walking off once again to find another gate singing softly to herself. "I-aye, I-aye do not trust, so I can not love. (Uh can't no man be trusted) Oh no, no, no And I will not dare, to open up. Well my rent's passed due, and now my car won't start, I hate the bus. (Aren't you glad you have somebody to talk to?) Tell me what do they see, when they look at me. Do they see my many personalities, oh no?" She glanced back over her shoulder and winked when she saw Alec still watching her with his mouth slightly open. "Tell me why can't I, just reach up and simply touch the sky. Tell me why can't I, spread my arms and fly and fly and fly. Tell me why can't I say this. Why can't I do that? Tell me what do they want from me? Tell me how to act." 

As she disappeared from view Alec let out a soft sigh and looked over at Joshua, "now that's a girl I'd like to get to know better." He ignored the soft snort that came from his companion and smiled to himself.  



	3. I have new socks

Author's Note: Hi, my peeps! So…how's about that weather? I'm bored out of my mind…I'm one of the last people in my dorm and I'm going insane from the lack of things to do. I need human interaction like no body's business. They don't even have the sweet tooth open anymore…I can't get food without having to actually pay for it! It's not fair! I need people to talk to! I don't even have people to throw food at! Ok. I'm gonna go and stop whining at you. Have fun reading. Drop me a line if you wanna. Review even if you don't wanna.

RRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEeeEWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!

That's Enough for Me

Chapter 3: I have new socks

~*~

__
    
    You come on like a drug
    I just can't get enough
    I'm like an addict coming at you for a little more
    And there's so much at stake
    I can't afford to wait
    I've never needed anybody like this before.
    ~ Garbage, "Temptation waits"

~*~

That had been fun, for a whole hour. "Bored again," she pouted propping her chin on her fist as she looked around the small club. For a minute she considered trying to get some money off the pool tables but decided against it when she realized it required movement. She heard the man's heavy breathing before he sat down next to her and leered. 

She glanced over at him and blinked several times, his salt and pepper hair hung in greasy clumps down to his shoulders and his beard held bits and pieces of food that she was sure had been there for a long time. He didn't seem to fit into his surroundings, an abstract piece of art that the painter had thought might be funny but failed to pass it onto the audience. He was not the usual sort of patron to frequent Crash. "Hey, girly." He put a hand on her arm and she had to hold back the sneer of disgust. She extracted her hand from his tight grip and glared at him. "What you don't like me?"

"No, honey, I _love_ you." She simpered and batted her eyelashes. "I'm just pretending that the mere sight of you effects my up-chuck reflex." 

"You have a big mouth for such a pretty little thing," he said leaning in, his breath reeking like three day old rotted meat. 

"Gee, is this how you woo all your hopefuls?" Jondy couldn't seem to look away from his red eyes; it was like watching a train coming at you. You see the blinding light at the front but you can't move away from the tracks, too mesmerized by the red malevolent eye to do anything but blink. 

"I had a girlfriend just like you, before the pulse."

"I send her my condolences," she smiled and started to stand, but he caught her hand once again. 

"You should learn respect for your elders," he rasped, yellow teeth clicking together like a puppet. 

"I will when I find one not trying to hit on me," positive that this man wouldn't hesitate to point an accusing finger at her, she didn't want to use too much force to get away from him, the search for transgenics was too hot. He squeezed her arm, in an obvious attempt to hurt her; he was stronger than he looked. Blue eyes narrowed and sparked as she watched him suddenly blanch at what he saw. "Let…go," she hissed.

"Hey, what's going on?" A familiar voice asked, and Jondy realized that there was a very warm body right next to her. She turned her head and blue eyes met green. 

She smiled, "he was just about to let go of my arm," she looked back down at the unwashed man who was still gaping up at her. "Weren'tcha?"

"Y-y-yes," his hand dropped from her arm like it had suddenly caught aflame. 

"See? All good," she piped at Alec who was staring at the old man like he wanted to squash him like a bug.

"Just as long as its all good…maybe you should leave though," he said to the man who was scrambling off his stool before he had finished the thought.

"Wow, I've never been a damsel in distress before. It's opened up my eyes to a whole new world." She smiled up at Alec and batted her eyelashes sweetly; her eyes shifting to the hunched shoulders of the old man as he scurried away like a cockroach. "I'm gonna start wearing a turbine and ride on magic carpets."

"I'm gonna ignore that reference…it's the least I could do," he smirked at her putting a tentative hand to the back of his head.

"How is the noggin'? Shouldn't you be lying down somewhere with an ice pack taped to the back of your head?" She sat back down at the bar, watching him as he took the seat next to her.

"I would, but that's just no fun. Unless there's a girl to keep the bed warm, I just get bored," he smiled at her and shrugged.

"Must be a lonely existence." Her trickling laugh had him frozen on the spot; "somehow I think you would survive." A slender hand reached up to ruffle his already disheveled hair gently. 

"What brings you here?" He asked suddenly looking away from her.

"The absolute all-consuming need to relieve my boredom," she smiled. "And even though I'm not a drinker, I want strong alcohol."

"Why haven't you had any yet then?" His brows pulled together as he looked from the empty space on the bar infront of her up to those electric eyes.

"I'm trying to get the bartenders attention," she waved a hand in the air, and looked at Alec with a smirk when nothing happened. "It's uncanny how good he is at ignoring me. I mean, come on." She cocked her head to the side and just shook it despairingly; "I'm a hottie I should be getting really good service right about now."

He chuckled and pursed his lips, "want me to try?"

"I think I got a fool-proof plan…if there is such a thing." She winked and tossed hair over her shoulder in a gold cascade. "Hey!" She waved a hand in the air, "barkeep! Hey, you!" 

She glared at the laughing Alec squared her shoulders and called out, "I have boobs!" Pulling gently on her shirt to reveal some of the most perfect cleavage that Alec had ever seen, she grinned. That was it, if the bartender didn't serve her now he was playing for his own team. 

"What can I get for you?" The large balding man asked with a sickening smile. Jondy simpered and Alec was sure he saw a dimple.

She pointed one long finger at the back wall, "two of those pretty glasses sitting infront of me with some of that even prettier amber colored liquid in it." When one was sitting infront of her she smiled again, "you're simply a doll."

When the bartender moved away she turned to Alec showing off every pearly white tooth in her head, "I hope you don't mind buying us both a drink."

Alec, who was still blinking with his mouth hanging open, just shook his head, "not at all."

"Good," she touched his cheek gently and turned his head to look the other way, "you can stop staring now. There won't be a repeat performance."

"Please?"

"Absolutely not." Pursing her lips she threw back her head dramatically, "I have a reputation to uphold."

"What reputation is that?"

She brought her head back up and blinked at him for several seconds, "you know, no one actually ever told me." She put her chin on her fist; "I should probably ask someone sometime." Shrugging she picked up her glass and held it infront of the light coming from behind the bar.

"What are you doing?" Alec asked taking a sip from his own glass.

She turned to look at him with wide eyes; "I…well…pretty colors." She said in a small voice before looking down and putting the glass back on the bar. "I like looking at the drinks more than I like drinking them." He opened his mouth but closed it as he watched her take a sip of her brandy, her face screwed up and she stuck her tongue out, "bleah." 

"Why…"

"Hey, man," a man with scruffy brown hair came up and slapped Alec on the back.

"Sketch, what's up?" Alec smiled in greeting, nodding to Jondy, "J, this is my friend Sketch. Sketch, my newest friend J."

"Hey, nice to…um meet you."

She smiled brightly and watched as a blush worked its way up his neck, "my pleasure." 

"Uh…" Sketchy looked at Alec for a long time trying to get his mouth to work properly. "Max and…Original Cindy…"

"What about them?" 

"Want you to come…and talk to them."

Jondy laughed at the look of confusion on Alec's face, "Sketch," he threw an arm over his friend's shoulders.

"Yeah?"

"You've seen beautiful women before, you see Max everyday, right?"

"Yeah," he said sheepishly glancing at Jondy wearily.

"What are you having such a problem with this?"

"I'm not even showing my boobs off anymore," Jondy quipped, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively as she watched Sketchy take swallow past the sudden lump in his throat.

"Exactly," Alec smiled at her before turning back to Sketchy. "I'll be there in a second."

"Okay," Sketchy walked off shaking his head absently, mumbling to himself.

"Why do I have the sudden feeling that I might have scarred him for life?"

"Don't worry, he's usually that articulate," Alec smirked at her and looked back over his shoulder to where Max was sitting and glaring. "I'll be right back." 

"I'll be holding my breath, cross my heart," Jondy crossed her fingers and drew an 'x' over her left breast and took a deep breath.

Alec just shook his head and made his way over to where Max and Original Cindy were sitting watching him. "Well, aren't you a cheery group?" He sat down and smiled.

"Who's the lickety boo?" Cindy asked one eyebrow rising slowly.

"Jay."

"She's a supreme hottie," Sketchy put in with a smirk.

"Can't you think of anything other than girls?" Max asked her head cocking to the side as a hand made its way to her hip.

"She's…um…special," Alec said his eyes shifting to Sketchy and back to Max.

"Special?" Max's eyebrow rose slowly. "You mean as in she's bend-y and strong?"

Alec pointed at her for a second and then smirked, "bend-y and just as strong as you." He watched as her mouth fell open and understanding filled her eyes. 

"Oh, she's a transgenic!" Sketchy said with a smile, Alec's mouth dropped open as he looked from Sketchy to Max to Original Cindy.

"Did I miss something?"

"He knows," Max said with a shrug.

"Really? Wow, I never would have guessed that without your input."

"Gee, Alec, you're welcome."

"Th' boy saw me when I was stealin' some files from Normal's office." Original Cindy cut in before Max could say anything else. "It couldn't be helped."

Alec turned to Sketchy who looked like he had no idea who he should be looking at, "how are you with this?"

"Majorly disturbed, but I'll get over that." He shrugged and put his hands flat on the table top, "it explains why you won all those games of pool."

"I won those cause you suck, Sketch," Alec slapped him on the back and smirked.

"Don't have to rub it in."

"Whatever," he looked up at Max and Cindy with a wide grin. "Is that all?"

"Why don't ya bring that beautiful leggy blond over here?" Cindy said sighing deeply as she watched Jondy stand up and shake off the advances of a man with orange spiked hair. 

"I'd love to." Alec smirked and made his way over to where Jondy was presently rescuing her glass from the bar where the orange haired man was still leering. "Why you didn't like the color of his hair?" He asked her over her shoulder.

She shrugged eloquently, "it would have clashed with mine. I never liked blue and orange together, it's tacky."

"You base a relationship on the color of a guys hair?" He asked his tongue darting out to wet his lips.

"I require compatibility." One side of her full red lips pulled up slowly into a half smile as she looked up at Alec through her lashes, "and who said anything about a relationship? I'm very particular about my one night stands."

The smile grew as she watched him smirk and take a step in closer to her, "well if you're looking for a one night stand…"

"Alec!" 

He grumbled something under his breath as he turned to wave at Cindy. "In a second." He turned back to find Jondy laughing quietly. "What?"

"I told you I'm particular," she shook her head and breezed by him walking over to the table with Max, Original Cindy, and Sketchy. 

"I don't meet your standards?" He followed after her, not acknowledging anyone else at the table as he sat down next to her.

"I have very high standards," she answered, nodding at everyone. 

"Now that sounds like a proud sista' to me," Cindy quipped pursing her lips.

"Sounds smart to me," Max said with a smile at Jondy.

"I think so."

"Have you gotten a new drink or are you still looking at the pretty colors of the first one?"

"Colors," she squinched up her nose playfully and held up the glass once again. She put it back down again and smiled at the three sets of eyes that were staring at her curiously and the pair that just looked amused. "So…" She opened her mouth to go on but the distant chirp of a cell phone cut her off. "Eh, I forgot to keep it on vibrate. Be right back. Pants or arm?" Was the last thing they heard as she walked away.

"She's one strange sista.'" Cindy put in her eyes still on Jondy's backside.

"Maybe they drove her crazy with too many experiments." Sketchy added following the line of Cindy's eyes. 

"It's likely, ain't it boo?" Cindy turned to Max whose eyes had narrowed slowly as she watched the girl talk, throwing hands up into the air and shaking her head as though the person on the other end could see her movements. 

"You did what!?" Floated over to them over the pulsing music of Crash. "I told you…see what happens when you don't listen to me?" She stomped her foot and jumped up and down several times ignoring the interested looks directed her way. "You dirty rat, what were you thinking?" Her mouth dropped open and her blue eyes went wide, "how is this my fault? I don't show you enough love? Are you crying?" She let out a growl. "Don't you dare…stop it! Your ass is so mine, bitch!" She started nodding her head furiously. "You better believe it, girl. You can't go anywhere that I can't find you, and I will. I'll hunt you down and beat you into the ground, do you understand me?" She huffed, "you can't just get me a new GameBoy. I stole that from a really hot guy, it had sentimental value."

Alec almost lost the beer he had just drunk trying not to laugh. "It's official, tha' chick crazy," Cindy said with a shake of her head.

"That chick saved my life this afternoon," Alec cut in waving a finger at her.

"Really?" Max asked one brow rising slowly.

"Yes, why do you think I have such a big lump on the back of my head?" He pointed a finger to the general vicinity of where he knew there was a huge bruise underneath the thick mass of hair. "If it wasn't for her I'd be strung up the same as Biggs," his smile faltered for a heartbeat, just long enough for Max to see it. She touched his hand gently and let it linger there for a long moment before pulling it back to rest on the cool glass of her mug of beer. He looked at her and gave her a half smile before turning back to Jondy.

"Silly, I'm going away now…don't give me anymore lip." She licked her lips slowly and looked down at her feet. "I love you too…don't get into trouble 'cause when you do weird thing happen when I come to save your ass…like naked men running out of your apartment screaming…ugly naked men!" She shook her head and shuddered. "Never again…call me in a week is nothing happens…ok I love you bu-bye." 

Alec watched with a smirk as she walked back over to the table, slipping her phone into her jacket pocket. "Troubles?" He asked sweetly.

"No, where'd you get that idea?" She blinked slowly.

"From the screamin', girly," Cindy said with pursed lips.

"Oh, that…she's kind of…my…uh…sister." She shrugged and smiled, showing soft dimples. "You know how sibling are…always fighting."

"So she's a transgenic too?" Sketch asked her, his brows pulling together in confusion when her jaw dropped down and she stared at him.

"They know about me," Alec said quickly putting a comforting hand on her arm. 

"Well, that's spiffy." She said with a smile shaking her head. "I need to get going, I have some calls to make," she nodded her head at the people sitting around the table. "It was nice meeting all of you." 

"Our pleasua', Jay," Cindy said with a nod and a smile. "Yo welcome any time ya wanna jus' chill with Original Cindy or any o' these fools," she pointed one caramel finger in the direction of Sketchy and Alec.

"Thanks," Jondy grinned brightly, showing off perfect white teeth and started to leave.

"Wait," Alec called getting up to follow after her. "Can I have a way to maybe find you sometime?" He looked up at he ceiling innocently and shrugged, "If I needed to or somethin'."

She placed a soft kiss on his cheek and kept walking calling to him without turning around, "night!"

She was out the door even before he could grumble in unhappiness making his way back to the table ignoring the bark of laughter from Max and Cindy shaking her head sadly. "Boy's got it bad."

Outside walked quietly to her motorcycle, the black shiny chrome calling to her softly in the cold night air. She ran one loving hand over the leather seat and up to the cold metal of the handles; kicking a leg over the body she revved the bike with a content smile spreading across her face. She purred along with the bike's engine before taking off down the dark streets. Gold and blue hair fanned out behind her, dancing erratically in the wind that swirled around her like the arms of the mother she had never known. 

She stopped infront of her building and rolled the bike inside out of the cold, not seeing the man holding a small gadget in his hands following her progress. He touched his ear gently and whispered soft words as she disappeared into dark hallways. 

Once in her own apartment, she locked the door with a quick flick of her wrist and sat on the floor with a quiet 'oof' and untied her shoes, struggling to pull them off her feet and falling over onto her side in the battle. Righting her self and standing up she started walking to the bathroom, pulling off her socks and then her shirt, her hair falling around her in a silk waterfall. She was singing before she threw it on the floor of her living room, "I think I'll go for a walk, maybe out in the rain. Maybe let the tears roll down my face and not feel the pain. Maybe think about something, maybe think about you. Yeah, you know you can't hurt me now." 

With a wiggle of her hips she peeled tight jeans off, and kicked them softly down her legs balancing precariously as she slipped them over feet. "And I got plenty of time, time to figure it out, time to think about you and me whatever that was all about. I got nothing to prove. I got nothing to say. No, I guess I never thought you was good for me anyway. I got nothing to lose...nothing but you." Flipping tangled hair over her shoulder she reached in and turned the shower on, pulling black satin off while she waited for the water to warm up. "I think I'll go for a ride till my memory fades. Roll down the windows and glide down 75 to the Everglades. Maybe light up a joint; take a walk on the Moon. Yeah, you know you can't touch me now. (You can't hold me down) and I got plenty of time, time to figure it out.

She stepped into the rush of warm water let it turn gold hair into a soft brown, weighing it down so that it came past her hips. "Time to think about you and me whatever that was all about. I got nothing to prove. I got nothing to say. No I guess I never thought you was good for me anyway. I got nothing to lose...Nothing but…" She stopped singing abruptly and went quiet filtering out the sounds of the shower and reaching into the room beyond her small bathroom. There it was again, the soft creak of a board unused to weight being put on it. 


	4. Knight on shining armor

Author's Note: Hi. Sorry this took so long, I had to move back to Memphis for the summer and my parents decided to make a six-hour road trip into a two day one. Can we say fun? I thought so. So to my loyal fans who have been waiting so patiently here is the fourth chapter. 

Review…it's for your own good.

That's Enough for Me

Chapter 4: Knight on shinning armor

~*~

__
    
    How can everything be justified by you
    you get off on watching me bleed
    you get off on feeding my disease
    this time will be perfect you explain
    but your tongue's as deadly as a needle in my vein...
    -Stabbing Westward, "DrugStore"

~*~

Her breath caught in her throat for a heartbeat until she realized the sound came from outside her front door. She closed her eyes slowly and tried to hear any other sounds, there was another creak this one louder. At least two men were in the hallway outside of her apartment.

She slipped out of the shower, not turning off the water and ignoring as more of it dripped down her body. She looked out the window, just big enough for her to fit through, to find five men with guns and police badges watching the side door intently. A mad dash into the living room yielded her cell phone and a knife before she ran back into the bathroom. She picked up her purple silk robe and quietly opened the window, slipping the robe on but not bothering to tie it. Knife and cell went into the pockets of the robe even as she held back an unhappy gasp when cold air hit her wet body full on.

Taking a deep breath she climbed onto the sill and with gentle hands searched for a handhold that her eyes couldn't see. Time had worn away the mortar that held bricks together giving barely any room for handholds but just enough that she was willing to take the chance. She was standing slowly, careful not to draw any attention upwards. She heard the front door come crashing in as she started down the wall.

Bricks scraped at exposed toes and fingers as she grasped on with every fiber of her being, muscles rippled under satin skin. She made it over another windowsill and had to hold in a gasp of pain as the edge caught on skin and left a bloody welt across the soft skin of her stomach and breast. Her muscles twitched gently and she turned to look at how far she had gone. She wanted to just jump down, she was already hanging on a good three stories up, she was sure she could make it without too much damage even with no shoes on, but the resulting sound would catch too much attention.

"This is _so_ not fair," she grumbled under her breath as another brick left a rough good-bye kiss against her hip. "Ok, next time I close the robe." She tried to toss wet clumps of hair out of her eyes unsuccessfully as she listened to the commotion inside her apartment. A man shouted and she rested her head against the cold brick for a heartbeat, her eyes closed and her breathing even. Someone was sticking his head out of her window, people pointed and she let go of the wall. 

Her legs folded under her to catch the shock of the landing and then she was running bare feet slapping against wet concrete. She pulled in her billowing robe to tie it off, knowing that being accosted in the street by horny men and cops was worse then just cops. The lucky part was the men who caught a glimpse of her stopped for a long moment just blinking.

Then the clomping of heavy boots sounded behind her, followed by the loud revving of engines. Arms pumping and breath coming in even gasps she ran for everything she was worth cutting out the cold and the feeling of hard concrete abusing already torn feet. 

Turning on her heel she made her way into an alley, jumping stray boxes rather than go around them. One jump landed her on a piece of glass and the gasp of unbidden pain ripped itself out of her throat even as she kept running, gritting her teeth and refusing to slow down. She made another turn fearing for a second that she was going to get herself lost.

Shots rang out and she ducked throwing hands up in an instinctive reflex to protect her head. She zigzagged as best she could without catching another piece of glass in her already abused feet. More shots and she had to wonder if these guys ever actually went to target practice. 

Another turn and red and blue lights illuminated the street infront of her; she back peddled her arms flailing for a full second before she caught her balance again. Her eye caught the rich red of blood smeared against the pavement; whipping around she saw the glint of lights off of guns. 

"Attacking me without any clothes on is not fair!" She yelled through gritted teeth as she brought her fists up ready to fight when the sound of motorcycle engines cut through the air. Eyes of electric blue went wide as steel and flesh cut through the night air. 

Two of the bikers made circles around the cops kicking a few back and shouldering them away by sheer force. One cycle skidded to a stop beside her, and Jondy took in the familiar smirk with a smile of her own. "Get on," Alec yelled over the sound of engines.

"Don't have to tell me twice," wrapping the robe around her more tightly she climbed on behind him and pressed her body tightly against him. "My night on shining armor!"

With the tightening of her arms he was off, two cycles falling in behind. "That's twice in one night," he yelled over the wind, "I think I deserve something!"

She tucked her chin into the crook of his neck and put her lips next to his ear, suppressing a smile when she felt his body shudder softly against her, "we'll see." She turned her head to see Max riding next to them. Jondy's eyes narrowed slowly as she watched the other woman, taking in for the first time the dark skin and black hair and, with a flash of memory, dark eyes slanted delicately. "Max," she whispered softly blinking away the memories of a little girl she had lost below the ice so long ago.

She buried her face into Alec's leather clad back and breathed deeply. His smell invaded her senses and she felt her head spin with it. Leather and cat and man, he smelled like strength with the undercurrent of pain. Without thinking about it she slid her arms tighter around him, her thumb brushing against bare skin where his shirt had ridden up. She pulled back abruptly as a sudden surge of electricity ran up her arms. Curious eyes watched as his muscles tensed, she leaned back in slowly and felt his breath come in ragged gasps. She rubbed her cheek against Alec's shoulder like a cat scent marking and resisted the urge to purr. 

Once safely inside Terminal City Jondy slipped off the back of Alec's cycle and bit off the laugh the threatened to bubble out of her chest as she watched his hands turn white against the bike handles. "You ok?" she asked her teeth denting her lip delicately as she lightly touched his shoulder.

"I'm fine, Why do ya ask?" Looked up at her innocently, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down as he swallowed.

"No particular reason," she laughed.

"How about you?"

"What about me?"

"Are you ok?"

She picked up her left foot and tisked softly," I'm gonna need tweezers to get the glass out of my foot." Gritting her teeth she ran a bail across the ball of her foot, "running on it worked it in."

"We can take care of that," he said wit a smile, throwing a leg over the bike. "Any other injuries that we should know about?"

"Minor ones." She fluttered dark lashes playfully; "you can kiss 'em and make 'em batter if you wanna."

"It depends on where they are," a smirk played across full pink lips as he took a step closer to her.

"Max!" The yell made them both jump with the realization that they weren't alone.

"Yeah?" The reply came from somewhere behind Jondy and she turned to catch a glimpse of dark hair being thrown over caramel shoulders.

"That's Dix," Alec whispered into her ear as she looked back at the pale man with an eye patch over a misshapen face.

"Logan's on the screen, says he wants to talk to you and Alec." Dix disappeared back into the HQ as Jondy watched both transgenics in question tense.

"Oh goody," Alec growled under his breath, nodding at Jondy to follow. She pulled her robe in tighter and shrugged as she fell into step with Max.

"So…who's this Logan guy you both are dreading to talk to?" She asked with a grin.

"I'm not dreading it," Max said, pulling a face.

"Ri-ight, and I'm fully clothed."

"He's Max's we're-not-like-that-boyfriend, who she decided to tell that she's dating me," Alec raised an eyebrow at Max's glare and Jondy felt her stomach drop.

"Why would she, uh you," Jondy smiled over at Max, "have done a thing like that?"

"We can't touch," She explained to Jondy quietly.

"Which she hadn't stopped moping about for the last nine months," Alec grumbled under his breath.

"Why can't you?"

"I was given a virus tailored specifically to his DNA," Max watched Alec with narrowed eyes just waiting for his next comment.

"So you two aren't dating, you just decided to tell Logan that because he's hopelessly in love and won't take a hint?"

"Yes," she answered quietly. "Alec and I are reluctant friends."

Alec leaned in close his lips mere inches away from Jondy's ear. "She's the only one who's reluctant."

"Likes to take things slow, huh?" 

"Like a turtle," he deadpanned.

"Doesn't embrace the cat DNA, does she?" She shook her head despairingly; "it's a sad thing."

"I know…she should rush head long into things…"

"And when things get messed up point at someone else and look cute and innocent…" Jondy went on.

"And nap frequently," he finished with a smile.

"Would you two stop talking about me like I'm not here?" Max snapped but couldn't help the smile that spread her lips.

"Just embracing the inner tabby," Jondy explained with a smirk, "Maxie." She said the name with as much inflection as possible and saw a spark of something in Max's eyes, but then she shook her head and it was gone. Jondy couldn't help the sigh of disappointment, thinking that there should be some blinding spark of recognition somewhere along the way.

Inside Alec touched Max's arm and nodded to Jondy, "let me help her with some first aid and then I'll be along for the fun." He didn't wait for a reply as he led Jondy to a back room.

She glanced over her shoulder to watch Max for a second before she felt air moving in front of her and knew she was about to run into to someone. She turned coming face to collar bone with a man who looked to have way too much lizard in his cocktail. "Ah! Moving wall!" She blinked up at him curiously. "Now you're just cool."

He smiled around his cigar before removing it, "you realize you're not wearing much in the way of clothes, right?"

She grinned, "I was going for the I-don't-care-look…do you think I went too far?" She flipped still damp hair over her shoulder and shrugged. "You just can never tell these days."

"This is Mole," Alec said with a smile at the large man.

"Mole?" One eyebrow rose elegantly. "That's a fun…great name for a lizard man…how'd that happen?"

"I like it," his voice was gruff as he blew a puff of smoke into the air.

"More power to ya, lizzy!" She flashed pearly whited and followed Alec farther back, casting a weary glance at the trail of red she left behind.

"You're not hobbling," Alec said suddenly when he entered a small room and watched her follow behind him.

"Huh?"

"You're not hobbling," he repeated.

She looked down at her foot then back up at him and shook her head, "nope."

"Most people would," he observed dryly.

"That they would," she sat down on a chair and propped her foot up slowly. He watched her for a second before shaking his head and shuffling through some shelves. Pushing items out of his way haphazardly. 

"I know we have a tub thing in her some…ah ha!" He stood up straight brandishing a wash basin and tweezers. "I knew it!"

"Wowzers!" Blue eyes went wide; "You're amazing."

"Finally someone who appreciated me!"

"Oh, I think there are plenty of girls out there who appreciate you." She smiled sweetly and pointed down at her foot. "Hurry up, wench!" His eyebrows pulled together to furrow his brow before he shook his head and turned to get some soap and water. 

He came back with a wash cloth and sat down in front of her, taking her left angle in strong hands. His fingertips felt like fire against soft skin and she forced her face to go blank as he looked up at her questioningly.

Jondy grimaced as she felt cold metal touch raw skin. Biting her lip she watched as his drew closed in concentration as he wrestled with the piece of glass lodged in her foot. With a cry of triumph Alec held up a bloody chunk the size of his fingernail, "Got it!"

"Woohoo! Celebrate good times, come on!" She held up her hands and cheered. 

"Now we get to clean it," he said with mock joy. 

"If only it could be the rest of my body," she threw her head back. "They came in just as I was starting me shower."

He put on a pretend pout as he started to clean off her foot, pressing the wash cloth against delicate skin as gently as he could. He watched as her face muscles jumped for a heartbeat and settled back into the look of unconcern. When he finished he could feel the full weight of those blue eyes of hers as he looked up at her. He leaned in slowly his thumb tracing slow circles against her ankle. "So, what were you saying about other injuries?"

A smile spread across full red lips slowly as her hand moved to touch her hip gently, "I got one here," her voice was the barest whisper. Then her hand touched her stomach just above her navel, "and one here too." She stopped for a second watching as his tongue darted out, green eyes watching her with enough intensity to make her want to blush. "And I have another one right…" she looked up suddenly as the door came open and Mole stuck his head in. 

"Max's is getting impatient," he explained with a grin.

"All right, I'm coming," Alec grumbled and put Jondy's foot down. "I'll be back in a bit."

"All righty then," she couldn't help the grimace that she threw at the closed door sighing under her breath quietly.


	5. And the plot gets thinner

Author's note: I'm so very sorry this took so long but Jondy wouldn't speak to me. It was horrible! I felt so alone without her in my head. But I'm ok now, I went and kidnapped her and forced her to talk to me…plus I told her how libazeth was threatening the Jensen picture that I was using to lure the M/Lers to the dark side. Libazeth is mean when she wants her fanfic! But that's ok. For some reason this story is really hard to write and I can't figure out why…maybe because I'm depressed about DA getting cancelled. I also joined the fun world of dateless people on Monday after two and a half years of guaranteed dates. But that actually doesn't have me depressed so it's all good all the time. Herbal was just weird. Can you tell I got that whole write what you're thinking thing going on? Well, I'll stop now. Sorry once again that this took so long and that it's so short…I'm not too happy with it but me and Jondy are gonna talk about this and she'll be more co-operative. 

Chapter 5: And the plot gets thinner

~*~

__
    
    The angry boy, a bit too insane
    icing over a secret pain
    You know you don't belong
    You're the first to fight, you're way too loud
    You're the flash of light on a burial shroud
    I know something's wrong
    ~ Third eye blind, "Jumper"

~*~

It took Jondy a full ten minutes to give up on the whole waiting thing and begin on the whole amuse oneself thing. Three minutes to sit quietly like a good little transgenic, two to chip at her fingernail polish, and five to sing about a lovely bunch of coconuts, a man named Leroy Brown, and how Johnny could be good. Now she had the choice of singing more songs sitting on her butt in a very cold room or singing them while she was walking around the very cold building. 

"Movement equals circulation, which equals a not so cold Jondy…let me think about that," she shrugged her shoulders slowly as she made a dash for the door into the outside world, or at least the door to the rest of Terminal City. "_Interesting_…very interesting."

She poked her head out and looked from left to right until she saw a small pale man with a gentle turtle like face hunched over a piece of metal with wires. She looked over his shoulder careful not to make any noise standing on her tiptoes to peer down at the mess of wires; she heard his soft curse and with a grin realized why. "You're putting the wires on backwards," she informed him quietly.

He jumped letting out a small high-pitched noise and turned around as she backed away quickly. A sweet smile spread her pink lips as she batted eyelashes at him. "Don't do that," he said shaking his head.

"Sorry," she lifted one shoulder and let it drop once again pulling her robe in tighter. "It's just you were doing it wrong and I thought I'd help," she pouted and batted her eyelashes once again.

"Oh," he looked down at the pliers in his hand before looking back up at her and blinking owlish eyes at her. "Thanks. I haven't gotten much sleep in the past couple nights trying to get stuff in order and it's been kind of hard to concentrate, you know how it is." He opened his mouth to go on but closed it sharply and gave her a small smile; "I'm Luke by the way."

She smiled and put her hand out, "I'm Jondy but you can call me J." She shook his hand firmly and bit her lip. "Do you know where I might be able to find that _really_ hot transgenic guy who brought me in earlier?"

"Who…Alec?"

"Yeah," she flashed teeth, "how'd you know which hot transgenic guy I was talking about, there's got to be a lot of them?"

"He just came in from a rescue mission," he said with a grin that she couldn't help but think was adorable. He was the good intentioned nice guy that talked too much for his own good.

"Of _course_, what was I thinking?" She tossed blond hair over her shoulder and rolled her eyes playfully. "So which way?" 

He pointed a finger off to the right and towards the front of the building; "he should be up on the catwalk with Max. I think Logan is trying to get them to work on something for him."

"Oh," she looked towards the front with a raised eyebrow. "He sounds like a doll."

"He's ok for the most part…even though he's an ordinary." He smiled at her again and waved a dismissing hand through the air. 

Jondy just shrugged and looked down at her robe, "whom should I talk to about getting clothes?"

"Alec has his nose in the whole trade thing, he's probably your best bet…though I think there's a room in the back with extras that might work until he gets you some real ones."

"You're a sweet heart," she exclaimed pecking him softly on the cheek before bouncing away, ignoring the many looks directed her way. Blue eyes lit up when she noticed the two figures standing up on the catwalk talking to a computer screen. One tall and slender with dirty blond hair leaning indolently against the railing with a cocked head and the other short and slender with dark brown hair being thrown over her shoulder periodically as she looked from the man to the screen. Licking her lips slowly she made her way over to them. 

She smiled up at Mole when she passed by him and stopped next to Alec, waiting for him to notice her. It wasn't long for her to give up, their talk about Logan's obviously boring life finally getting to her, so she tugged gently on Alec's jacket. 

When he turned to look at her a smiling tugging at his lips she smiled sweetly, "yes? Do you need something?" Her smile grew bigger as she shook her head 'yes.' "Well?"

"Panties," she informed him with a firm nod and fought back the laugh that bubbled in her throat as his face went completely blank for a second before he choked.

"What?" He coughed a couple times making sure to turn his face away from both Max and Logan.

"I need panties," she told him again and looked over at Max who was muffling laughter. 

"Why are you telling me this?" His voice sounded strained as he looked down at her, the sudden thought running through his head that giving her clothes was the last thing he really wanted to do…unless he could take her out of them right afterwards.

"Well, I'm told you do that trade thang and, we-ell, I need clothes…" she waved her hands in the air for a second, "I mean, I don't have a real big problem with bein' nekie, seein' as how I'm all designed to be perfect. Not bein' ashamed of our bodies is probably the only good thing that Manticore did for us…"

"Uh huh," he nodded and blinked several times before shaking his head, trying hard to clear it. "Go on."

She grinned, "Well, I wouldn't bother except its cold and I seem to be making some of the males a little…um…nervous." She rolled her eyes and shook her head despairingly.

"Alec will help you get some clothes, no worries," Max smiled at Jondy and nodded her head for Alec to start moving. 

"Thanks ever so," Jondy smiled again before glancing at the small face of Logan peering at her from the screen. "I'm sorry for stealin' your boy, but all in a good cause!"

"Just as long as you bring him back," Max said through a tense smile trying not to look over at the screen as she said it. 

"You and me should talk later," Jondy called over her shoulder as she made her way to follow Alec once again.

"You're not good at that whole sitting down thing, are ya?" Alec asked with a smirk.

"Well, I'm better at it when I'm not freezin' my _ass_ets off." She slipped a hand around his arm and grinned letting blue eyes go wide, "plus, you can't tell me you're not happy that I came and interrupted your little tete-a-tete."

He flashed perfect teeth framed by full pink lips pulled taut; "Ya got me there! If Logan said one more 'the fate of the free world rests on this' speech I was gonna have ta hurl."

"See my inability to stay put comes in handy sometimes…" she sighed and made puppy dog eyes up at him, "now can we get me some clothes?"

"About this whole clothes thing," he bit his lip as he looked down at her, "is it optional?"

"Is going around in clothes optional?" One eyebrow rose slowly, "you're gonna have ta explain tha' one, honey."

"No, is it optional going around in front of me with no clothes?"

Jondy opened her mouth to retort but thought better of it before shaking her head. "You are such a guy."

"Well, yes I am funny enough." He threw her a smile as he made his way once again to the back of the building.

"Is all your stuff in the back?" She didn't wait for his reply. "I swear, guys are such pigs sometimes…" she huffed crossing her arms over her chest. 

He blinked at her a couple of times and shook his head choosing to ignore the last comment, "most of it is." He stopped by another door and fumbled with the handle. "This thing never works right, I keep meaning to ask Luke to fix it…" his words died away as Jondy kicked the door with the boll of her good foot absently and just smiled at him. "Or we could just get a new door."

"See now you're talkin'." She swept by him smiling as sweetly as possible her eyes going impossibly large and innocent. He just shook his head and followed her inside. "So where are the clothes?" 

He nodded his head to indicate behind her and opened a cabinet, "you're gonna have to settle for some stuff being too big for the moment…we don't have too much going around." He looked up at her and had to remind himself to breathe again when electric blue eyes were turned on him. "I'll see what I can do about getting you some that actually fit."

"I would _so_ appreciate that." She said waving her hands in the air absently and grinned while bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Here," he handed her a bundle of clothes and waved a hand over at another cabinet. "Undergarments are…over there. I'll leave you…to get dressed."

She laughed as he fumbled with the words and made his way out of the room closing the now cracked door behind him. Discarding all the bras she found she decided that she could go a day without one and started to get dressed.

Drawstring sweatpants and a large t-shirt over 'undergarments' the didn't quite fit proved to be the best that he could give her and she rolled her eyes as she looked down at herself. "Well, not the clothes you wanna go trying to get yourself a hottie in…but they'll do for now." She stuck her head out of the room to find Alec talking quietly to Joshua his lean shoulders hunched forward as he looked down at something. She smiled as she lunged at him throwing her arms around his neck and yelling, "shoes!"

He let out an inarticulate, "ah," as his arms went around her without any thought, pulling her body against his. He was staring down into her wide blue eyes for a long moment before he remembered why. "Shoes?" he asked with a smirk, one eyebrow rising slowly. 

"Yes, the floor is cold." She informed him quietly, her tongue darting out to wet full lips.

"You just like to complain, don't you?"

A grin split her face; "I like complaining to you…it's fun." Plastering a mockery of innocence across her face she batted her eyelashes up at him, "I hope you don't mind."

The smirk turned into a real smile inch by inch, "no." He shook his head letting her go; "it's nice having someone around who doesn't act like the worlds about to end."

"You and Max seem to have this place under control." She turned to Joshua with a sweet smile, "don't they?"

"Y-yeah, this p-place under control." He beamed at her, playing nervously with a strand of hair.

She smiled and gave him a couple pats on the arm, "I hope you don't mind my monopolizing Alec's time or anything."

"Alec and Jay getting busy?" He bared his teeth in a canine grin putting a fist in the air for emphasis.

Jondy laughed her mouth hanging slightly open as she watched Alec's face turn a shade strangely like magenta. "Uh, not right now, buddy!" He smiled nervously at Jondy and leaned in to say something to Joshua. "Maybe you shouldn't ask that question anymore."

"Oh, sorry," he looked over at Jondy with large eyes, "sorry."

"It's ok, doggie-dog." She opened her mouth when a voice behind her suddenly caught her attention, one she swore she recognized. She turned slowly when a head of dark black hair caught her attention. Blue eyes narrowed as she took in the caramel skin of a Korean man, and then her mouth fell open and all she could do was point when he turned towards her. "_You_!"

Brown, almost black, eyes went wide, "oh shit."

"Oh shits right!"


	6. You dirty rat!

Author's note: Hiya kiddies! Miss me? I missed you! My butts getting really big with me just sitting on it like this. I really need to get me a job. But that's ok for right now. How is everyone? I don't really have much to say at the moment, except that I'm having some trouble with this story. It's being difficult…anyone want to give me ideas for things that you'd like to see in the story feel free to email me or put it in the reviews that I know you all want to give me.

Review it makes this whole process a lot easier.

That's enough for me

Chapter 6: You dirty rat

~*~
    
    
    This is my Vietnam
    I'm at war
    Life keeps on dropping bombs
    And I keep score
    ~ Pink, "My Vietnam"

~*~

"Sorry?" he was backing up quickly his hands in the air with a sign of surrender.

"Not as sorry as you're gonna be when I'm through killin' ya, Rich!" She was pointing at him and he was looking at the one long pale finger like it was a gun ready to go off.

"But…I didn't…don't kill me!" He watched her eyes narrow and froze for a long second before he turned and took off running. Two heartbeats later Jondy was running after him.

"I'm not wearing shoes and you're making me chase you down!" she growled as she pushed past Alec who was watching with an open mouth.

"You don't have to chase me!" Rich yelled over his shoulder narrowly missing running right into Max.

"Yes, I do, you…you booger troll!" Before anyone could breath, Jondy had put one foot on the wall and catapulted herself through the air arms extended. She smashed into the backside of the retreating transgenic and rode him to the ground.

They rolled on the cold concrete a snarl escaping from someone's mouth, Alec couldn't tell from his vantage point at the edge of the circle that had gathered around the fight. In a blink Jondy was straddling Rich's waist, and pinning him to the floor by his arms. 

"Grr," she snarled down at him, her lips compressed into a tight line. "I can't believe you! I was worried sick! You could have given me wrinkles!"

"I told you I was sorry!" he snarled back up at her, black eyes snapping. 

"I should skin you alive and nail you to a post, you little jerk wad!" Her blue eyes were on fire, putting Rich's own anger to shame. "Your house was torched when I went to see you! What did you think would go through my mind when I came across the still smoking embers?" Something slithered behind those eyes that looked almost like fear, and Alec knew she was remembering pain. Then her anger burned higher as she looked down at his intact, perfectly healthy face. "If you had been sorry you would have called! I thought you were dead," she leaned down close her hair creating a curtain around their angry faces, "or worse captured." Her voice had gone soft and dangerous.

She raised a fist and Alec grabbed her around the waist and pulled with everything he had without another thought. The feeling of her finger being pulled forcefully off of lean muscles went through his own arms, and when he looked down he saw the trails of delicate pink lines that her nails had left behind. Jondy struggled in his arms reaching for Rich with clawed hands but didn't turn on Alec…something he was grateful of as he saw the flash of long nails. The world was in uproar, people were yelling and waving arms around, but he couldn't hear any of it too intent on the body squirming in his arms. 

He grit his teeth against the strength he hadn't expected from such a small frame…he almost snorted at his own stupidity. Even then, with Rich scrambling for his feet in the most ungraceful crab walk he'd ever seen a transgenic use and Jondy struggling like a wild cat in his arms, he couldn't think past the feeling of her small lithe body pressed tight against him.

"You wouldn't have let me come," the soft whine floated up to Alec's straining ears. Jondy tried to jerk away from him, her eyes cold as she looked down at Rich. She was suddenly standing very still, in the circle of Alec's arms, her eyes never leaving the man just then coming to his feet. 

Alec let go of her, reluctantly letting his hands fall away from the slim waist. Rich watched her as though he was waiting for her next move. Gold and blue hair fell around her in a tangled halo, her chest heaved with her every breath and her nostrils flared. When her fist swung through the air connecting solidly with his left cheek it was too fast for anyone to react to. Rich was once again lying on his backside and looking at the high vaulted ceiling of the HQ warehouse. 

Jondy stood over him, reaching down slowly to grab his collar and hoist him up until he was once again inches away from her. She snarled showing teeth; "I am your alpha." She let go of him and stood back up, her back straight as she watched him stand. "I am alpha, you are omega. I eat first, I play first, I mate first; when I tell you to do something, you do it."

"Jon…"

"I gave you an order, and you ignored me." Her lips formed the words carefully as though she was trying to bit back other words that were threatening to come out. Alec swallowed as she took a long step towards Rich, barely contained violence floating around her in an aura of red. Rich was backtracking fast. "That isn't healthy."

"I had to…"

"All you had to do was keep in touch, not that hard when I have a cell phone on me everywhere I go!"

"J, this isn't Manticore, you can't try to pull rank," Max said through gritted teeth. The only person with enough guts to speak up at that moment.

Jondy's head swiveled around slowly, as though she was fighting the urge to look at her. "He's my brother I can do whatever I damn well please," the words were more a growl than anything. Her head moved back towards Rich, "Weren't you the one that volunteered me for CO, bro?" A delicate eyebrow rose, and a smile lifted the corner of full lips almost sweetly. "You were the one who made me my banner, weren'cha?" 

"Can you at least let me try to explain?" Rich suddenly yelled, the muscle in his jaw jumping as it tightened in time with his fists opening and closing.

She smiled, a blinding flash of perfect teeth and fangs just that much sharper than a normal human's. "Of course," she purred, "let's go for a walk." She turned on the heel of her barefeet and started walking, with a bounce in her step, outside as though she expected him to follow without any fuss. He did.

They left behind them a room full of very confused transgenics. 

Max opened her mouth as she looked over at Alec with large brown eyes and just shook her head softly. "What was that?"

"How should I know? I'm still getting over the fact that my life just flashed before my eyes." He shook his head unhappily, "I need to go to more wild parties," he said almost to himself. He looked over at Max and watched as her brow furrowed slowly. "What?"

"Something seems…off."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm trying to remember why having those two fighting seems so familiar." She ran a hand through her hair. "It's like I've seen it before."

"Deja vu maybe?" He smirked at her and shrugged his shoulders trying to look innocent when she glared at him. When the glare didn't lessen he held his hands up in surrender, "I don't know why, I can't help ya so I'm gonna go somewhere that's away." He shook his head when he saw Luke open his mouth to say something. "Not right now, my man."

~*~

"I'm waiting," Jondy said in a soft sing song voice as she batted long dark lashes at Rich.

"I'm thinking," he snapped narrowing dark brown eyes at her. 

She dragged in a loud breath and let it out slowly as she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "You scared the ever livin' shit out of me." She pursed her lips and glared at the ground.

Nodding his dark head of hair a couple of times he matched his stride with hers. "I didn't mean to."

"What were you thinking?" She huffed crossing her arms over her ample chest. "I realize I'm lenient and I don't lord over you guys like Zack but what you did was just wrong."

"I was thinking you wouldn't let me…"

"You know better than that…" She threw up her hands in the air, letting out an exasperated sigh. "You could have left a message on my voice mail just to say 'yo, Jondy, old buddy old pal, I'm alive, toddles!'"

"I was stupid."

She grinned and nodded her head slowly, "uh huh."

"Ya planin' on forgivin' me?" Smiled sweetly and did his best to bat his eyelashes innocently, "sometime?"

She rolled her eyes to look towards the dark sky and shrugged, "maybe," with her head cocked to the side her eyes slid over to him as he echoed her movements. "What are you willin' to do to make up for it?"

"What do you want me to do?" He asked slowly and almost cursed when she saw her smile widen flashing perfectly white teeth. 

"We-ell…I've been thinkin' I haven't heard you sing for _ages_!" She laughed softly and rubbed her hands together evilly. 

"Oh no," his eye grew wide in fear.

"Oh yes, you're gonna sing for me…loudly." She was bouncing on her heels now. "You're also gonna dance." 

"I don't wanna dance."

"Too bad…you're gonna sing and dance. I reserve the right to choose time, place, and song." She smiled sweetly and patted his cheek gently. "You should have thought of all this before you decided to ride off on a white stead and join the uprisin' to make a better world for the transgenic."

"You will at least choose a time when I'm not fighting for my life right?"

"Probably. Now more important issues."

"I know who she is," he said tightly running a hand through his dark hair and suddenly finding his shoes utterly fascinating. She watched him for a short time, her electric blue eyes almost glowing in the dark.

"I figured you did…I wanted to know why you hadn't told her yet." She let her head fall back for a minute as she looked up into the sky with that peculiar color that only come at four in the morning, somewhere between purple and blue and black. A giant bruise she thought sadly to herself before she pulled her head back up slowly.

"Think about it…" he bit his bottom lip gently and squinted one eye at her. "You are Max, most of your life has been devoted to finding your siblings, twelve brothers and sisters that had shared more with you than anyone else in the world."

"Uh huh?" Jondy was careful to keep her voice neutral, more than used to the casual way that Rich fell into the rhythm of telling a story.

"You have just begun the first stages of starting a war that you have almost no chance of winning. For the first time you aren't focusing on your brothers and sisters, you're trying to keep yourself and everyone around you alive…." He raised one eyebrow and waited for her to follow the thought through.

"And suddenly one of them shows up, what happens to me?"

"You get very distracted."

"Which could lead to me being very dead."

"Exactly what we don't want for our little sister."

"So we don't tell Max, _for_ _now_," she shot a glare in his direction. "We aren't keeping this from her indefinitely."

He held up his hands, "of course not…I would like to have a sister around who doesn't automatically try to break my nose."

"Syl being hard on you again?" she asked with a smile.

"No, but the last time I saw Lis she almost bit it off." He jutted his bottom lip out and touched his nose gently.

She put on a pout; "tried to stick it where it didn't belong didn't ya?"

He held a hand to his chest and opened his mouth to deny everything before sighing and letting his shoulders slump. "How was I supposed to know she didn't want me to look through the book with a little lock on it…if she didn't want me to look at it she should have hidden the key better."

"You read her diary?" Jondy rolled her eyes heavenward and tried desperately not to sigh in exasperation. "Either you're insane or stupid…and since I know you aren't even half as insane as I am you must be stupid."

"I was curious."

"You're part cat, remember what happens to the curious cat."

"His curiosity is satisfied?"

"No, he dies a horribly painful death!" She gave his arm a gentle shove back towards the HQ. "Now that we have almost everything worked out we can go have people stare at us." They walked for a little while before Jondy spoke up again. "You know Alec, right?"

"Yeah?" He raised one eyebrow as he looked over at her.

"He doesn't have a girlfriend or anything, does he?" She was staring very hard down at her black work boots.

"No…you interested in filling the position?"

"No," she cocked her head to the side and smiled, "I'm just curious."

"And I'm a three eyed toad."

"You do look kind of green."


	7. A ball of string

Author's Note: Wow, I never meant to be gone that long…I really didn't. There were a whole lot of reasons for the long absence…such as I just started a new job and I'm taking some summer classes in the hopes of getting some credits for college out of the way and my ex boyfriend wants me to take him back. Yeah, I've been having fun. Oh and ff.net sucks which you all know. I'm disliking the not being able to see review counts on stories. And my story fairy and my psycho fairy seem to have become one entity and has taken upon its/their self/selves to smack me upside the head many times with new stories…I got three new story ideas in one night…that's just painful. 

I've already started writing one of them and it looks like it's gonna be really, really good. And also Jondy has been making me write later chapters and she absolutely refused to write on this chapter until I got the aforementioned story underway and then she was more cooperative…the little minx. But so here is the next chapter and I sincerely hope that it's been worth the wait and that your review will show me just how much you missed me. And incase anyone goes to look at any of my other fiction and they happen to see "weak." There is one review and it's under my name but I wasn't the one who wrote it… My friend was on my computer after having read "Has anyone ever" and decided to write me a review and I didn't realize that she was doing it under my name until too late. Wow, that was a long Author's Note…sorry for boring you with my world.

Review and tell me how happy you are to have me back in the game! 

That's Enough for Me

Chapter 7: A ball of string

~*~

__
    
    Careful what you say
    cause you're on display every night and every day.
    Somebody's hiding in the great unknown
    and everytime you think you're alone
    somebody's eyes are watching.
    Somebody's eyes are seeing you come and go.
    ~ FootLoose, "Somebody's eyes"

~*~

Jondy bounced back into the HQ, a smile plastered on her face. Stopping she blinked at the faces turned her way. "What?" She suddenly put her hands to her head as her eyes went wide; "did the horns come back?"

"Where's Rich?" Max asked cautiously, her large brown eyes following Jondy's every move.

She smiled sheepishly and fluttered her eyelashes, "I dunno." Max's eyes narrowed slowly as she looked at the other woman until Jondy threw her hands into the air with a huff, "fine, you glared it out of me!" She crossed her arms over her chest and shrugged her shoulders unhappily; "I killed 'im." 

"You what?!" Max's mouth dropped open and Alec started counting the seconds before there was a fight.

"I killed 'im, are you hard of hearing?" She smiled sweetly. "What did you think I was gonna say?"

Max took a step forward when Rich appeared in the doorway with a sheepish grin, "You aren't gonna make me sing infront of anyone are you?"

Jondy smiled sweetly and nodded her head before she turned back to Max, "geez, girl, you need to lighten up. I'm tellin' ya, you're gonna give yourself a complex." Jondy watched with a grin as Max shook her head and walked off grumbling to herself. Jondy looked over at Alec and shrugged, "I seem to have that effect on a lot of people."

"So I noticed."

"You've known me a day, how could you possibly know?"

"How can anyone who has known you for ten minutes not know?" He smirked and lifted an eyebrow in her direction.

She stuck her nose in the air, and brushed a stray strand of cerulean blue from her face, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

With a laugh he threw an arm around her shoulders and steered her towards the door, "how about we find you a place to sleep tonight?"

"Ah, no hurries," she waved a hand in the air and let a puff of air from her mouth. 

"What do you mean no hurries? It's four a.m." He blinked down at her.

"Well, I don't really sleep…we think I might have some shark in my cocktail but I'm not too sure."

"'_We_ think?'" Alec blinked several more times before raising an eyebrow curiously. He steered her through the warehouse, and out towards where he bike was parked.

"Uh…me and the voices."

""The voices?" he asked dryly, refusing to look at her this time.

"Yes, the voices. They talk a lot…and have names, one's this weirdo named Jessica and she's always telling me what to do and muttering. She mutters crazy things like, _I'm_ a figment of _her_ imagination." Jondy threw her hands up in the air even as she watched him swing a leg over the bike and then followed suit. "Can you imagine that?"

"Strangely, when it's coming from your mouth…I can."

"Strangely?" She smiled," honey-child, that ain't strange…I speak the world listens." Then she shrugged, "'course half the time the world doesn't understand what I'm sayin' but they listen anyway."

Jondy found her arms once again wrapped around his waist as his motorcycle roared to life between her legs. She smiled as she buried her face in his back and breathed him in. The intoxicating scent of leather mingled with a scent that had no name but was man and animal coming together to form something new and all Alec. She mused silently that if she could take that smell and bottle it she could make millions.

"How ya doin'?" Alec called over his shoulder.

"I'm just dandy," she answered placing her lips next to his ear so she wouldn't have to yell too loudly. She nuzzled softly at his cheek like a cat, "we're we goin by the by?"

"My place," he answered as she felt him lean back into her slightly. "It's the best place for you to stay, for now." He pulled to a stop infront of an old apartment complex, and lowered his voice as the roar of the died. "We're working on making more places in TC habitable, 'til then I'm living here, and you can stay with me as long as you need to."

"What happens when TC is livable again?"

"Well, I'm moving there and you're welcome to do what you like." Suddenly his face broke out into a wide grin, "I guess I got you to come home with me after all."

"Don't get your hopes up, I'm sleeping on the couch," she swung a leg over the bike and stood waiting for him to do the same. 

He started for the building and up a flight of stairs, "I was going to take the couch and give you the bed, actually."

"Very gallant of you, but it's unnecessary." They came out of the stairs into a long hallway, "I already told you I don't sleep much, you'll get more use out of it then me." She watched as he slipped a key into his lock and opened the door, she smiled at her first glimpse inside. "Plus this is where the TV is."

"Ah," Alec shook his head and pointed towards the back of the apartment. "The bathroom is that way, you mentioned not getting a full shower earlier." He walked over to a closet in the short hallway, took out a towel, and threw it at her.

She held it up to her hair with a smile; "I match! And a shower sounds heavenly." 

He pointed beyond the bathroom, "my bedroom is in there, the offer on the bed is still up…and if you want company I won't object…as long as its me."

"I'll keep it in mind." She started for the bathroom and gave him a peck on the cheek on her way past. "Thanks, babe, you are worth every penny they spent making you." 

Alec beamed at her, "thanks."

~*~

The next afternoon at Terminal City was quite even with Jondy bouncing up and down peering over Dix's shoulder as he made yet another attempt at deciphering Max's runes. She looked down happily at her new jeans with buttons running up the sides, happy also to have a bra to go along with the rest of the outfit.

"What's that one mean?" she asked and pointed at one that looked like a squiggle with another squiggle…not that that was any different from the other squiggles. 

Anyone else would have been annoyed by her constant questions but he just smiled at her, happy to have someone to keep him company, even if she couldn't seem to stop moving. "It means death," he looked back down at it and frowned.

"What kind of death?"

"What do you mean, what kind?" He looked up at her blinking slowly as she just shrugged.

"Figuratively or literally?" She leaned over him biting her lip. "Death doesn't always mean death, sometimes it just means change. Sometimes it means both at the same time."

Dix stared at his translations for a long time. "It's an interesting point," he said finally, "but I don't think anything but actual death or plague would fit."

"Just a thought," she kept bouncing on the balls of her feet as she looked around the large room of TC headquarters. Her blue eyes landed on a head of sandy blonde hair coming her way. She smiled when she caught Alec's eye and waved.

"What are you doing here?" he asked slapping Dix on the shoulder.

"Well, you left for work and boredom set in…so there was boredom then a shopping expedition, then more boredom at your place, boredom and then I decided to come play. I've been trying really hard to annoy Dixie here but he's just not gonna do it." 

Dix smiled up at her, "so sorry."

"No worries," she shrugged and batted her long dark lashes at Alec.

"Sounds like you had a busy day."

"The problem with so little need to sleep is you have a lot of time on your hands, and what worse is that I'm not the kind of person who should be left to her own devices for very long."

"What do you mean?" His eyes narrowed slightly.

Jondy grinned showing off perfect white teeth and a hint of fang, then her hand came up with a sock puppet, her voice went high and squeaky, "'ello!" Alec's mouth dropped open as button eyes stared at him. 

"You made a sock puppet…" he started to laugh and then something occurred to him, "where'd you get the sock?"

"Sock? What sock?" Jondy's eyes went wide brimming with too much innocence for her to hold.

"The most important part of the sock puppet that you made, you know, the part it's named for."

"That's not the most important part," she said shaking her head and looking at the sock puppet on her hand. "Is it Mr. Binky?" The sock puppet, Mr. Binky shook his little sock head solemnly.

"Then what is?" Alec eyebrow rose slowly as Dix looked on trying not to laugh.

"The button eyes, of course."

"Then where did the buttons come from?"

"They didn't come from anywhere," she said in a rush, holding Mr. Binky up like he could protect her.

"They had to come from somewhere."

"No they didn't."

"Yes they did."

"They materialized out of no where. They were a message from Ga-ed." 

"Ga-ed?"

"Yeah, you know the Blue's brothers? 'We're on a mission from Ga-ed.' 'How much for the women? Sell me your women.'"

"Okay," he gave a grimace and then looked back at her. "And what was the message saying."

She blinked at him like she thought he was daft, "to build a sock puppet…duh."

"I'm gonna be short one sock, aren't I?" 

"Only a left one, I just got it before the washing machine could." She batted her lashes sweetly at him. She drew a circle with the toe of her black work boots as she looked up at him through her dark full lashes. "You aren't _mad_ at me, are you?"

"What shirt did you take the buttons from?"

"I didn't! I told you they were a message Ga-ed!" She threw her hands in the air in exasperation, "nobody understands me!" She pointed at Alec, "not you," her finger moved to point at Dix, "and not you." She lifted Mr. Binky up to look him in his blue button eyes, "well, maybe my sock puppet understands me a little. But no one else!" She stomped off as Alec and Dix stared at each other with open mouths. 

"What the heck…" Alec started as Jondy came running back.

"How was my tantrum?" She bounced on her heels, "was it believable?"

"Very impressive," Dix answered still blinking."

"Yay," she bit her lip as she turned to Alec. "Max said that when you got here she wanted to see you so you two could go over to Logan's for some mission thing-y or other."

"Oh, great."

"Can I go?" she batted her lashes sweetly and smiled. "I'm liable to get bored otherwise and I'm sure there's a _whole_ lot of fun trouble I could get into if you left me here."

"That sounded like a threat."

"Did it now?" she smiled sweetly, brimming with innocence once again. "Can't imagine why." 

"What was I thinking?"

"I don't know, that you were missing a sock? So can I?" She put her hands together, the sock puppet still on her hand, "pwease?"

"Max is gonna kill me," he said with a smirk and then nodded his head for her to follow him to where Max was waiting. 

"Max, dahling, it's been a whole hour, did ya miss me?" Jondy called with a grin. She turned to Mole who was listening to Max talk with a cigar clenched in his teeth, "Lizzy! My main reptile dude, how's it goin'?"

Alec and Max seemed to both hold their breath on a gasp as they waited for Mole to explode or growl or something unpleasant. They almost choked as they watched him pull his cigar from his mouth to grin at her. "It's goin' better than it was this mornin.' Thanks for the new gun by the way," he patted his side where a large black .9mm Glock seemed to blend in with his fatigues.

"Ah, I figure it was the least I could do for letting me play around with the rest of your collection today." Jondy bit her tongue playfully when he gave her a slap on the back, gave a nod to Alec and excused himself to go argue with the Arctic transgenic. Jondy turned with a smile back to Alec and Max, "he's a nice guy, isn't he?"

"Uh, yeah," Max answered with a shake of her head, "he just isn't usually that friendly." Alec couldn't help the guffaw, but cleared his throat with a shake of his head when Jondy looked at him funny.

She held up the sock puppet, "Mr. Binky thinks you need to be nice."

"Mr. Binky?" Max raised an eyebrow.

"My sock," Alec glared at Jondy who just smiled and shook her head.

"My sock puppet," Jondy corrected. "So are we goin'?" 

"What do you mean when are _we_ goin'?"

Jondy looked at Alec meaningfully, and he jumped him with a lopsided smirk, "I told her she could come, I mean, why not right?"

"Logan might not like having more people come along," she started.

"She might be able to help," Alec smiled disarmingly and put and arm around Jondy's shoulders. "She even promises to behave…dontcha, J?"

She drew and 'x' over her chest, "cross my heart."

"All right," Max finally agreed with a nod of her dark head, "just don't get into anymore fights."

"Even if I have to?" Jondy's smile was sweet as she shrugged and shook some blue hair infront of her eyes. With a glare directed at Alec they were off.

~*~

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"I said no."

"And I said please." 

"For God's sake let him play with the sock puppet!" Max finally yelled looking over at the other two transgenics in exasperation. 

"Mr. Binky might have objections to that!" Jondy said her bottom lips jutting out in a pout.

"Mr. Binky is a sock puppet," Max spit out.

"But he still has feelings!"

"Look you made him from one of _my_ socks and used buttons from one of _my_ shirts…I get to play with the sock puppet."

"Call him by his name!"

"I get to play with Mr. Binky!" Alec finally yelled, and both Max and Jondy couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up from the stares directed at him from people passing by. 

"That sounded vaguely dirty," Jondy reflected dryly when she saw a slight blush rise in his cheeks. 

"Yeah, Alec, wanna yell that any louder?" Max asked with a smirk as they turned to make their way up Joshua's walkway. Alec just gave a long-suffering sigh and yanked to puppet off of Jondy's hand.

"Hey!" She squeaked and attempted to pull it away, as Max opened the door and walked inside. "Give it back!"

"No, it's my sock!"

"Well, you weren't cool enough to make it into a puppet. Now give it back." She took a flying leap onto his back and made a grab for Mr. Binky just as he was coming into Logan's living room. "Ow, Max, make her stop!"

Logan looked up from his computer to see Max laughing at the antics of Alec and a woman he had seen only the day before in nothing but a bathrobe. He narrowed his eyes at the childish antics but said nothing about it when he saw Max's smile. "Children!"

"Why is every transgenic I meet firmly grounded in the terrible twos?" Logan asked dryly.

Jondy jumped off of Alec's back holding Mr. Binky with an air of affronted dignity before she turned to Logan with her chin firmly held up, "because none of us had a childhood and we are desperately trying to make up for it." She squared her shoulders flipped her hair over her shoulder and then stuck her tongue out at him. 

"You said you would behave," Max pointed out after she cleared her throat around a laugh.

"I lied, I lied like a dog!" Her face changed slightly as her eyes rolled up as she started thinking about something. "You know that statement isn't really accurate cause when you think about it dog's don't lie…saying you lie like a man would probably be more appropriate."

"What are you a man hater?" Alec asked with a grimace.

"No, I'm a realist."

"I have to agree with her on that one," Max nodded her head and gave Jondy a smile.

"Hi, you guys, I could use more help and less bickering." Alec grimaced and mumbled under his breath as Jondy gave a sigh and Max blinked at him for several seconds.

"By the way, this is Jay," Max nodded to Jondy and then looked back at Logan. "So whatcha got for us?"

Logan turned back to his computer, the one place where he felt in complete control even when he was surrounded by transgenics that could make him look like an uneducated fool. "I found some hooverdrone footage of White looking very buddy-buddy with Senator McKinley. It would probably be a good idea to get some surveillance on him, he might have connections with the familiars and not just White."

"So they got branches that far into the government?" Alec asked his face going serious as he sneaked a look over Logan's shoulder at the footage he was showing Max. He wouldn't go any closer to the desk however; still unhappy about the part Max had him playing.

Jondy stood next to him, "are you really surprised."

"That wasn't surprise, it was more…" he just threw his hands up in the air with a scowl not bothering to look for the right word.

"If you can get the stats for McKinley's place, we could work somethin' out," Max said, her narrowed eyes not leaving the computer screen.

"I could use some help on one of my Eyes Only project if you got some time?" Logan added as he looked over at Max.

"I should take care of this and I need Alec's help," she ignored Logan's wince and the way Alec was suddenly fascinated with his shoes. She turned to Jondy; "do you think you could do it?"

"I'm not going on some insane little mission to put my life on the line for you…nu uh, no way, hosie!"

"We owe him," Max spit out trying to keep her jaw from the floor. "He's helped the transgenic cause time and time again."

"No, he hasn't…he's helped the Max cause and as far as I can see, he owes you not the other way around."

"Excuse me?"

Chapter 8 : Some Home truths…hopefully coming soon to a computer near you.


	8. Some home truths

Author's Note: It's been ages, I know. And it's horribly short, I know this also. I'm really sorry and I'm sure you've all totally given up on me but I was asked/ordered to write another chapter of this by the wonderful libzofdoom…and with a name like that, how could I refuse? So here we go again. If you hadn't noticed I kept some of my old A/N.

Review, I might actually write some more.

Chapter 8: Some Home Truths

~*~

__
    
    And what if there are no damsels in distress?
    What if I knew that and I called your bluff?
    Don't you think every kitten figures out how to get down
    whether or not you show up? 

_~ Ani DiFranco, "Not a pretty girl"_

~*~

Jondy could tell she was in trouble when Alec started coughing in order to hide his laughter. She brought Mr. Binky up and said in a squeaky voice from the side of her mouth, "pay no attention to the girl behind the puppet."

"Stop it with the puppet!" Logan huffed, his nostrils flaring softly with ire.

"His. Name. Is. Mr. _Binky_. Get it right!" Jondy pulled her lips into a tight line and glared at him. Max put a hand on her hip and cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Enough with both of you, and start explainin'."

"I almost feel embarrassed saying this," Jondy started with a laugh, "you're entire relationship with Loggie here started as a 'quid pro quo,' am I right?"

"Yeah, how'd—" Logan began, but she made waving motions at him.

"Shush," She sighed and gazed heavenward. "No interrupting. Now, he found siblings for you and you went and did Eyes Only missions for him. Am I still on the money?" She asked, her lips forming the words carefully as she eyed both Max and Logan.

"I'm not…"

"I said _shush_." She lifted one eyebrow and quirked her lip at him, "don't insult my intelligence…now, where was I?" She looked over at Alec and cocked her head to the side slightly.

"Quid pro quo." He answered quickly, fascinated by the scene spreading out before him.

"Ah, yes, so am I right?"

"Yeah," Max answered, blinking slowly.

"The exchange of favors…wasn't exactly a fair one." Jondy sat down on Logan's desk and crossed her arms as she looked down at him. "How many of her siblings did you find for her?" It took Logan a minute to realize that she wanted him to actually answer this time.

"Well, I found…"

"One?"

"No, I found more than that." Jondy looked up at Max, smiling and lifted an eyebrow thoughtfully. "I found Zack," Logan said defensively.

"What I had heard was that Zack found you, actually." Lifting an eyebrow her eyes flickered between the two. "Did I hear wrong?"

"No," Max answered her brow furrowing.

"And Zack brought Brin into you're little Seattle world…" Jondy dropped her hands into her lap as she smiled sweetly. "So there's two you didn't find…" Her head tipped to the side and she looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully before lighting up theatrically. "Ben! You found Ben…or actually you found his barcode tattooed on a dead man's neck. Which lead Max to Ben, she found him, you just sort of pointed her in the right direction." Blue eyes moved to green, a flash of pain lighting the depths before she turned back. "I'll give you Ben, cause you were close that time."

"Thanks," his voice dripped with sarcasm.

"You're welcome."

"Then there was Tinga…" Jondy's face went a little hard at the name but cleared quickly before anyone but Alec caught the change. "Did you find her?"

"I helped…"

"You helped?" she repeated and shook her head. "You sent out a message on Eyes Only and she skipped town, you didn't really find her." 

"How do you know this!" Max yelled, hitting a gloved hand down on Logan's desk.

"It's common knowledge…" Jondy shrugged, "come on, Maxie, think with me here. You're the local hero, why would you think no one would know all this?" Max's full lips pulled into a tight line as her eyes narrowed but she didn't say anything else. "Syl and Krit," Jondy went on slowly still staring Max down, "didn't find them either, Zack brought them in on your big attempt at burning down Manticore."

"So?"

"Is that all you've met so far?"

Max looked like she was going to explode but only let out a choked, "yes."

"Looks like Zack did all Logan's work for him."

"What are you getting at?" Logan asked, his nostrils flaring.

"She owed one job," Jondy held up one finger coldly. "One. How many would you say she's done for you?"

"I don't…"

"Don't know?" Jondy pulled a pout, "how convenient for you…but let's guess. How many do you think?"

"Forty?" he ventured.

"Way more then that," Alec piped up without thinking. "I mean…never mind."

Jondy smiled and looked over at Logan, "way more then forty…we'll say fifty-five just for arguments sake. So that would be one sibling that you found for her out of…how many was it?"

"Ten," Max swallowed.

"One out of ten…really bad odds. I mean, I wouldn't place money on it if it was a bet, and I got some of the best luck of anyone you know. So she owed you one mission for the sake of the quid pro quo, so that's…fifty-four brothers and sisters you owe her?" Jondy gave a low chuckle "I don't think she has that many that got out in the escape."

"What's the point of this?"

"Even if you found the five remaining siblings, or seven if you count that you have no idea where Syl and Krit scurried off to, you would still owe her a very large amount of favors." Jondy looked at Max and yawned, "the transgenic population owes him nothing…except maybe a punch in the nose."

"Excuse me?" Logan's voice suddenly went high as his eyes tripled in size. No one moved for a second until Jondy went on.

"He knew about Manticore for years before he met you, Max."

"Yeah, I know…"

"Do you ever _think_? He _knew_ what they were doing. Logan, the savior of mankind, didn't give a rat's ass that the government had made _children_ and were making them into killing machines. It meant nothing to him, but a couple corrupt cops shake down a family for money and he has a crusade."

"Hold up…" Max started.

"No." Jondy bit out. "It didn't matter that there were children being tortured and killed in the name of science and country…but he jumped on the chance to get a new transgenic pet, a certain shapely cat burglar."

"That's ridiculous—"

"I'm no pet!" Logan and Max yelled at the same time.

"Are you sure about that?" Jondy asked calmly. "Come on, a nine-year-old managed to find everyone and he couldn't? Maybe he was perfectly capable of finding five lost children, being all grown up and having access to all that technology, I would think so. Serves his purpose not to try too hard doesn't it?"

"Zack got to start when there was a fresh trail…"

"And he was nine years old! He found us, I bet Logan could have too…"

"Us?" Max's mouth dropped.


	9. Well, ya see

AN: I am on fire… in a non-toasty sort of way.  Hi, I bet none of you thought I'd be back so soon.  I didn't think I'd be back so soon.  But, hey, I just had surgery and why shouldn't I take my recoup time to write, especially since my boyfriend and I have decided we need a 'break.'  Life is fun.  Did anyone miss me?  I really hope so cause otherwise it would way suck.   Thanks to the people that emailed me, I know some of you I never emailed back and that was really really horrible of me and I'm _so_ sorry.  If you email me in the future I promise I will email you back. But if you can tell anything from the itsy bit of stuff I just told you guys you can all guess that life's been a tad bit stressful.   I know, I'm a horrible author and I slap myself on the hand. **Whacks self with ruler.  **Have pity on me and review because I write more when I have people to write for.  Just remember I'm getting back in the groove of things.

Review!  Your comments are adored and loved beyond imagining.

That's Enough For Me

Chapter 9: Well, ya see…

~*~

_Blind, oh, now I see _

_truth, lies, and in between. _

_Wrong, can't be undone. _

_Oh Slipped, _

_from the tip of your tongue._

_                ~ Kenny Wayne Shepherd, "Blue on Black"_

~*~

"Huh?" Jondy blinked.

"You said 'us'," Max told her.

"No I didn't." Jondy turned.

"You said 'he found us,'" Alec said softly, his arms uncrossing from his chest as he stood up straighter.

"You must be mistaken."

"I don't think so," Max shook her head.

"I uh— I meant us as in…unity of the transgenics.  He found us, in that he found some of us transgenics."  Jondy nodded her head, "_Yeah_, that's what I meant." She threw a fist up in the air, "Woo hoo, transgenic unity, baby!"  She started backing out of the living room towards the front door, still smiling coyly.

"You're one of them," Logan's eyes narrowed, she opened her mouth for a scathing remark when a soft ringing could be heard coming from her jacket pocket.  She grimaced and brought it out glancing at the people around her as she answered it. 

"This is not a good time, boy…pants or arm?"  She backed away slowly from where Alec was resting against the doorframe next to her.  "Ok, so arm…WAIT!  ARM?  I'm not qualified to handle an arm conversation!"  She straightened her eyes widening.  "What's wrong!?  What happened?!" Her breathing heavy Jondy listened silently her eyes turning to slits suddenly. Her voice was suddenly low and dangerous, "you…she's what?"  Silence and then a sudden explosion of noise and hand movements that could barely be followed.  "I can't believe you!  How could you let something like this happen…oh, you didn't mean to.  Well, that just makes me feel _so_ much better!  What, you were just sitting there one day minding your own business when it looked up at you and was like 'Ha ha, fast as fast can be you can never catch me' and then it threw itself at her?!  Huh?  Is that how it happened, it had a mind of its own!?  You stupid…are you crying?  You don't GET to cry!  Stop crying right this…no you are not putting her on…"

Jondy was quiet again still seething, listening intently then she was talking almost pleasantly to whoever was on the other line.  "Hi!  Congratulations…crying?  I have no idea why he would be crying.  No! Of course I didn't yell at him, that would be…just… mean of me.  He said what?"  She was grinding her teeth, "the rascal.  No.  I'm gonna go now, I'll deal with you two later."  She hung up and glared at the phone as if she would like to crush it into a billion pieces.  

"You ARE one of them!"  Logan proclaimed loudly.

"No, genius, I'm several of them," Jondy bit out, hitting the doorframe gently.  "Meet some of the many people in my head.  I'm an us all on my lonesome…and we can't keep our freakin' mouths shut."

"Which one are you?"  Max asked as she followed Jondy's retreat.  "Who was on the phone?"

"Bob at the moment, and that was George on the phone," she quipped before she turned and ran.  Max took off after her without thinking and Alec start to follow but stopped before he made it out the door.

"Why aren't you helping Max?" Logan ground out.

"Not my place on this one," he answered dryly, he nodded over at Logan then left for Terminal City.

Jondy was running blind, not knowing where she was going or even why for that matter.  All she knew was that she hadn't wanted Max to find out like that, not in front of Logan, not so soon.  She heard the pounding of footsteps behind her and she knew Max wouldn't be far behind, for a split second she could see Max, as she had been, small and dark, a blur in training courses.  Faster than all of them, except Eva.  She would catch up soon but she needed time.  She needed the chance to think because this was all wrong.  

She skidded as she made a sharp turn, one arm thrown out for balance in a move she was sure looked really funny.  A fire escape ladder hung down and she made a jump for it, needing the open sky above her instead of buildings. 

Putting one hand above the other she didn't look down, knowing that Max was coming into the alley.  She was catching up and Jondy couldn't really find it in herself to care to terribly.  And then suddenly the walls fell away and she was surrounded by sky, blue and infinite and still reassuring.

Max surged to the roof ready to take up the chase, searching for the way that her sibling had gone and almost tripped over her own feet.  

The other woman was standing in the middle of the roof, one foot resting on a metal box that she guessed was for utility work of some sort, her arms wrapped around her chest and her face turned up.  Outlined by the sun it was hard to see anything but her shape, lean and strong and, for some reason, tired.  

She watched as she turned towards her and forgot to breath, beauty was a given for them, the X5s, and the one standing in front of her filled that description no better then any other but there was something different about her.  An aura, a feeling, something Max couldn't quite grasp but she was not like the other transgenics at Terminal City.   It took a minute, her brown eyes wide and her mouth hanging open, before she finally put her finger on it.  

This transgenic was a living memory, she was late nights sitting in the barracks giggling, funny faces made behind Zack's back, a hand that came out in the darkness to hold hers.  

"Syl's pregnant," the woman said softly, more to herself then Max.  She swallowed and shook her head in wonder, "Krit's gonna be a daddy."

"Jondy?" It was a whisper, barely loud enough for even her to hear, but the other woman smiled, a slow smile that stretched lips that had kissed her brow after nightmares. 

"We're gonna be Aunts."

"Why?"  And she couldn't manage to get anything else out, but it didn't seem as though she needed to get anything else out.  Jondy knew, Jondy always knew.

"I wanted to tell you.  It's just we were so worried about what it would do to you…having us here while you're doing all of this," Jondy explained softly, her tongue darting out to wet her lips.  "I didn't want to rock the boat and see you fall out of it."

"We?" it was a soft question, and Max's eyebrow rose slowly.

"Remember me fighting earlier?"  Max nodded.  "That would be Rich, he sorta came without my permission…or telling me that he was here."  

Max took a step forward and hesitated, "I can't believe…"

"That I'm here?  It shocks me too sometimes, what with the not being able to be anywhere that isn't technically 'here.'"

"Do you always talk like this?"

"Pretty much."  Jondy watched Max for a minute, biting her lip gently and waited for a sign that everything that was happening was actually sinking in.  At the moment it looked like sinking in was a hard state of mind.  Then all of a sudden two arms were wrapped around her hard enough to crush the air from her lungs but she didn't care, because it just felt good.   

Max hugged her sister and rejoiced when arms came up to hug her back.  Then she did something that she hadn't done since before the escape, she buried her face in the other woman's hair, remembering the scent from ages past, and breathed a sigh of release.  It was good to have family again.  


	10. Sibling Reunion

AN: Hey, I'm not doin' too bad lately.  It hasn't been a year since the last time I updated!  I'm very excited.   Thank you to all the people who emailed me, reviewed, and the chick that checked out my live journal.  I just thought that was infinitely cool.  I apologize for this chapter, its awkward and the writing is substandard. On the plus side when I started writing this Jondy kept telling me the story out of order, not very good for my sanity, we're at the part where she actually started talking to me.  And soon we'll have fun with Alec. (All kinds of fun, there's a bathtub involved if you're wondering.)  so don't abandon me yet it gets better soon.  And those who love Zane, he'll be around in like three chapters.  So yeah, good times.  Going now.

Review!  If you don't I might loose inspiration and where would we be then?

That's Enough for Me

Chapter 10: Sibling Reunion

_~*~_

_Some stories are magical, meant to be sung_

_Song from the mouth of the river _

_When the world was young _

_And all of these spirit voices rule the night._

_                -Paul Simon, "Spirit Voices"_

_~*~_

It was at least an hour later, when they were already back at Terminal City with Rich in tow, when the whole conversation finally hit Max. 

"Wait…Syl's _what_!?"

Jondy suddenly brightened and looked over at Rich with a smile as she kept walking, "I forgot to tell you.  Syl's preggers."

"I'm gonna be an uncle?" He shook his head in disbelief, as he handed a backpack to her.  "Krit's been a busy boy.  I must now formulate plans on how to spoil the kid rotten."

"Krit's the father!?" Max yelled, looking from Jondy to Rich like they were crazy.

"Yes, I mentioned that part to you earlier…right before the 'we're going to be aunts' part." Jondy cocked her head to the side, "weren't you listening?"

"I was…ok maybe not completely.  But that's…its…how?"

"Aww, that's so cute." Jondy looked at Rich wiping away a pretend tear, "I've never been able to tell someone about the birds and bees."

"I know…the how," Max ground out, "the technical parts, at least.  I mean Syl and Krit?"

"They were paired together for the break out," Jondy said quietly.  "They managed to stay close after that."

"In the same city and stuff," Rich supplied trying not to look at anyone.

"They're very cute together."

"But they're…its like incest," Max's lip curled as she crossed her arms over her chest.  

"Well, look who's all judgmental." Jondy lifted an eyebrow, and nodded her head toward a ladder leading to the top of a building.  

Rich made a jump for it and started to climb throwing over his shoulder a, "it's not like they're blood relations."

Max followed after him, "it doesn't bother you even a little?"

Rich stopped and looked down at her, "why should it?"

"There are lines," she slapped at his foot to get him to keep going.

Jondy made her way up after them, "lines can be erased."  Rich disappeared over the lip of the roof.  "We are not line friendly if you haven't noticed."  Max disappeared after him; her head reappeared for a second, long brown hair falling in a veil across her face.    Jondy joined them on the roof.

"Just don't think about it," Rich said clapping her on the shoulder, he grinned at his sister and wiggled his eyebrows.  "If you hadn't noticed the only ones of us who actually look alike are you and Krit, and Brin and I."

The three transgenics sat down, and Jondy slid the backpack from her shoulders.  "What did you pack for us, Richie baby?"

"I got Cheetos, Skittles, I'm keeping all the red ones for me…"

"You can't do that, I want the red ones!"

"Too bad, I brought the Skittles the red ones are mine," Rich clutched the bag to his chest and glared at her.

His eyes went wide as she lifted and eyebrow and scowled. "Don't make me kill you."

Max blinked at her, full lips puckering in confusion, "how come you get to make death threats?"

"Because he's stupid, and I have that authority," Jondy gave her a lopsided grin.  

"Yeah, she's the C.O. now."

"There was a party," Jondy explained happily, "I got a crown and with sparkles and _everything_."

"She was very cute even though she grossly misuses her power…and I brought sweet tarts and drinks."

"There's no nutritional value in any of that," Max said looking over his shoulder.

"I love it, gimme!"  Jondy pulled the bag open wider and pulled out a bag of Cheetos and an unlabeled bottle.   "So Maxie, dahling, tell us what you've been doing lately."  She twisted the cap off her bottle, took a swig, and waited.

It took a minute and then Max started talking.  Jondy and Rich listened as they were told what it had been like back at Manticore, how she'd met Alec, and the time since then.  By the time Max got to the part where she met a transgenic with the power of telecoercion Rich's mouth was hanging open and Jondy was finished with her Cheetos and moving on to Skittles.   

"I was punching and kicking him the whole time and I was all like 'that's for the virus' and then 'that's for getting paint on my research paper.'"  Max was talking about her fight in the ring with Alec, "'That's for making Joshua deliver your packages' and then 'that's for loosin' my baseball' I kicked him in the chest after that and was like 'that's for the next stupid thing you're gonna do.'  That was when I distracted him with the promise of the ring girl being top-less and I kicked him in the balls…it was great!" She beamed as Rich suddenly went completely white, a considerable accomplishment seeing as how he had such tan skin. 

"You kicked him in the…ow," Rich sank down and covered himself up.

"This is the guy that Logan thinks you're going out with?"  Jondy asked her brow furrowing.

"Yeah, so?"

"He believes you?"  Jondy blinked, "I mean, he actually thinks that you and Alec…"

"Why not?  I'm gorgeous and Alec's genetically engineered to be easy on the eyes."

"That's not the point—what man in his right mind would let you anywhere near him again after that."

"I wouldn't," Rich added helpfully.

"He's your friend…kinda, but I would think the family jewels would be off limits.  Not to mention you blame just about any bad thing that's happened to you on him."

"I don't just blame it on him," Max scowled at her.  "It's really his fault."

Jondy screwed up her face and bit a fingernail, "uh huh."

"What are you implying?"

"Nothing…much."  

Max opened her mouth to say something else when Rich quipped.  "Don't worry about her, she just—"

"Wants to hear her dear brother sing!" she yelled.

Max turned to her looking hopelessly lost, "what?"

"You're not serious!" Rich yelled back waving his hands in the air, "I'm not just gonna sing!"

"You're right, you're gonna dance too."  Jondy clapped her hands, "chop chop." 

Rich ground out from between his teeth, "what song?"

"Why is he singing?"

"He was a bad boy and must be punished, and amuse me in the process."  Jondy smiled at her sister, "there in lies the reason I love being CO."  She turned back to her brother, "I want 'Hero' from the musical 'Footloose'…proceed."

"I hate you."

"Dually noted, now…" she waved a regal hand, "a_mu-use_ me."

"Where have all the good men gone, and where are all the gods?" he started his voice a tenor, "Where's the street wise Hercules to fight the rising odds?"

"He actually knows the words.  I'm impressed…and I'm thinking he might be a little gay."

"Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery stead?  Late at night I toss and I turn, and I dream of what I need."

"Dance!"

Rich raised an arm theatrically, "I need a hero."

Jondy sang softly, "Do do do doo," she slapped Max's arm playfully, "we're back up baby. Do do do doo," Max joined in as softly as possible, "Do do do doo ahh."

Rich was grimacing, but he didn't stop singing.  "Somewhere after midnight, in my wildest fantasies, somewhere just beyond my reach there's someone reaching back for me."  Jondy motioned with her hands and he started twitching, hoping it would pass for dancing.  "Racing on the thunder, and rising with the heat.  It's gonna take a superman to sweep me off my feet.  I need a hero."

"Louder!"

Rich was yelling now.  "I'm calling out for a hero 'til the end of the night.  He's gotta be strong, and he's gotta be fast and he's gotta be fresh from the fight.  I need a hero.  I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light.  He's gotta be sure, and it's gotta be soon and he's gotta be larger than life."

Rich finished out the song, lunging forward with an arm up in the air waving spirit fingers galore.  "I need a hero.  I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light. He's gotta be sure, and it's gotta be soon and he's gotta be larger than life."  Jondy and Max clapped and hooted.  Jondy made vague references to Kevin Bacon possibly donating some DNA while Max laughed wildly.

"That was fun," Jondy said motioning for Rich to sit back down.

"I despise you," Rich told her before getting another bottle of nameless liquid.

"Right," she turned from him to Max.  "So everything is Alec's fault?"

"What was Rich saying about him earlier?"

Rich waved his arms trying to stop her, "please don't.  I don't want to sing anymore songs!"

"Okay."  Her brow furrowed but she let it drop and turned back to Jondy.  "Yeah, he's completely unreliable."  She warmed up to the subject quickly.  "I mean, Logan was dying because he touched me…completely out of concern for me, and he needed a blood transfusion from a transgenic and I called Alec and he never showed."

"Why not?" Rich asked wide-eyed. It didn't seem to fit with what he knew of Alec.

"He got arrested for something Ben did," Max rolled her eyes.

"Ben?" Rich asked.

"Why would he get in trouble for something Ben did?" Jondy asked at the same time.

"He's Ben's clone."  They both looked at her with mouths open in o's of understanding.

"Well, that sucks for…wait, how did he have control of that?" Jondy tilted her head to the side, as she looked at Max in complete confusion.

"Just trust me, he could have."

"O-okay."  Jondy nodded.  "So, bad Alec."

"What did I do this time?" A deep voice asked from behind them.  Turning around they found Alec on the ladder leaning back and holding the bars lazily.

"Nothing yet," Max informed him.

"That's reassuring."

"What did you want?"

"There were some of us down there wonderin' why someone was singing about heroes up here."  He blinked and looked at Rich, "I take it that would be you."

"Yeah, about that…" Rich started but Jondy cut him off.

"He loves 'Footloose'.  Gigantic Kevin Bacon fan, keeps telling up that he donated DNA," Jondy beamed at her brother.  "He knows all the dance moves and everything.  It's the coolest thing you ever did see."  She motioned for Alec to come closer.  "He loves performing it so if you have the urge spread that around."

"Have I told you today that I hate you?" Rich asked calmly.

Jondy looked at him with wide innocent eyes, "why would you say such a horrible thing to me?"

"Just answer the question."

"I dimly recall once or twice."

"That's it?"

"Uh huh."

"Then, I hate you."

"You'd feel bad if I started crying."

"Probably."

"I'll keep that in mind for next time."

"Please don't."   She wiggled her eyebrows at him and he groaned.

"Let me guess, another sibling?" Alec asked Max.

"Meet Rich…and Jay's actually Jondy," she explained.  

"Huh..." he turned to Jondy.  "When you're done with the reunion, I'm gonna be heading for my apartment for a while before we go on a supply run, if you wanna come."

"Sure, that sounds good."  She waved at her siblings.  "I'm gonna go before he serenades you with his favorite ever, 'Let's hear it for the boys'."  She went to follow Alec down the ladder still talking.  "He's really good at it and all, but it's still disturbing."

"You are so wrong!" Rich yelled after her.


	11. Trading Pain

AN:  Hi!  I'm doing better.  You guys have to way admit that!  I got hugs for "International Hug your Favorite Authors day"!  I was so excited and it made me all happy and stuff.   For those of you who have reviewed me I'm eternally grateful and I think you are just the coolest people in the world.  And I'm trying really hard to reward you with chapters more frequent then every three months…but its really hard.  And I'm starting a new story and I feel bad about that.  Especially since it's in a whole new genre and its not like I'm not having enough trouble.  Though on the plus side when I started writing the other story I was finally able to finish this chapter.  Though the dialogue left me a bit unsatisfied I'm not horrified with my work, which is a plus. 

Review!  Review like the wind!

That's Enough For Me Chapter 11: Trading Pain

_~*~_

_Scars are souvenirs you never lose._

_The past is never far._

_Did you lose yourself somewhere out there?_

_Did you get to be a star_

_and don't it make you sad to know that life_

_is more than who we are?_

_                ~Goo Goo Dolls, "Name"_

_~*~_

"Tell me something," Alec said with a grin as he dropped down onto the couch next to her. He handed her a glass with some fruit juice in it, while keeping another one with a more questionable liquid in it.

"Goat cheese tastes really good on toasted bread," Jondy squinted at him when he glared at her.  "What?  You have to be a little more specific."

"Tell me something about growing up…" he waved a hand at their surroundings vaguely, "out here.  "Max and I don't really have heart to hearts and we never talk about it."  He snorted, "the closest to one we've gotten is Max telling me that I could talk to her if I needed anything."  His voice dropped to an almost whisper in the quiet of the apartment.  "I've kind of always wanted to ask," Jondy smiled and let out a sigh as she stared at the wall.

"At the tender age of eleven I was addicted—"

"Addicted? To what?  Heroine?  Crack…were you an alcoholic?"  Alec asked with an excited gleam in his eyes.

"At the tender age of _eleven_…" she glared at him, "I was addicted to ice cream."

"Ice cream," he couldn't stop the laugh.

"It was bad, man.  I beat up the ice cream man; I couldn't get enough of that creamy goodness.  Zack had to stage an intervention."

"How?  Just, how?"  

Jondy laughed.  "It was about a half a year after the escape, I was moving from neighborhood to neighborhood lookin' for any easy score and there were these kids sitting in a park.  They were laughing."  She seemed to be seeing the scene again in her head, and Alec was struck by the flash of jealousy that made its way across her face.  "They were so happy looking, kids waiting for the ice cream truck.  When it came one of their mothers came up and bought them some.  It smelled so good, I hadn't eaten in a couple days, I must have looked like I was dying or somethin' cause the lady saw me.  She smiled and asked me what flavor I liked."  Jondy laughed, "I'd never had ice cream before how the heck was I supposed to know?  So she ordered something for me and paid for it and everything.  She looked liked an angel, I mean absolutely beautiful, I just stared until she put the ice pop in my hand. 

"I don't even remember what kind it was, but it was red, white, and blue and ridged and stuff and it was so very yummy."  She looked at Alec, "possibly even better because a woman smiled as she gave it to me."

"So there are actually good Samaritans out there?"  Alec asked with a grin.

"Not many."  She scratched her head and turned a slight shade of pink and started mumbling.  "Ilearnedaboutlove throughromancenovels."

"What?!"  Alec was grinning, his face looking like it was about to split."

She let out a breath of air with a huff, "I learned about love through…romance novels."  

"Heh.  You're kidding right?"

"I wish."

"You learned about love through romance novels?"

"I've said that, like, three times now."

"I just wanted to make sure that I heard right," Alec was chuckling to himself and Jondy glared at him.  

"Its not like I had someone to ask!  You try talking to you're brother about stuff like that!  I mean, as if it's not bad enough that we weren't trained to handle emotions…he was a _boy_."  She waved her hands around in the air frantically.  "Boys just don't get stuff like that.  I mean, dear god, can you imagine trying to talk to your C.O. about a girl you like?"

"Not really…though it probably would have been funny."

"No, it wouldn't have been.  It would have been sad and pathetic!  So my options were slim and I liked to read; it seemed the most viable option.  Porno's just didn't seem to have the right…you know…"

"No, I don't know."

"It just didn't seem right," the pink on her cheeks was slowly becoming red.  "So it was romance novels.  And I will tell you, it screwed my head up royally."

Alec looked like he was having trouble breathing. "How many porno's did you watch before you decided they weren't right for the job?"

"I don't like you anymore!" She whimpered and sniffed delicately.  "You're an ass."

"I'm just curious!" 

"Never mind!  Moving on!"

"No, I wanna hear about the romance…or the plot driven smut, you're decision!"

"I will not!" She covered her face for a second before sitting up straighter and turning on him.  "There was this one time with Zane, oh it was great."  She made a thumb's up motion and stuck her tongue out.  "We were…I was thirteen, I think, but we got into our heads that we wanted to," she giggled and scrunched up her face, "go on a road trip…un-Zack-sanctioned."

Bringing his laughter under control he asked, "bad plan?"

"_Bad_ plan.  _So_ bad."  She cringed, "so bad. So yeah, we needed a ride.  Easy stuff…or so we thought."

"You were thirteen…"

"And I looked thirteen, driving a car…or trying to."  He lifted an eyebrow.  "I didn't know it was a _stick_!"

"You stole a stick shift, oh that's great," he laughed. 

"Oh come on, who drives a stick these days?  Only the really cool cars are sticks!"  She waved her hands in the air, "this was a freakin' Nissan!"  He laughed some more and she smacked his arm.  "I've never seen so many freakishly tall hills in my life."

"You stalled some?"

"Zane didn't help with all the screaming, and I mean high pitched girlie screams, he was doing when we had to start on hills with people behind us…what is the deal with the tailgaters?  Do they just not like their cars?"

"It wasn't always like that," he said it like he was stating a fact.

"Hell, no, most of the time it was…kinda painful," she shrugged.  "I figured you wanted some of the fun stories."

"I do, but I just…was it hard out here?"

"Yeah."

"Harder then Manticore?" He wouldn't look at her just stared down at his hands rolling his glass.  

"Some of it," she said softly, just watching his hands.  The fingers long and tapered, elegant like an artist's, she had to shake her head to clear the image of tan skin sliding along creamy white.   "You wouldn't believe the foster homes…"she let out a shaky breath and shrugged.

"If it was harder then why—?"

"We were dying, Alec."

"Manticore wasn't killing you!" his eyes were wide and wild and she touched his arm lightly.

"Yes, it was.  Bit by bit it was eating at our souls and taking away who we were, that's death of the living variety."  She slid her hand down his arm to grip his wrist.  "And they were going to hurt Max that night."  She watched his Adam's apple bob slowly as he swallowed and shook his head.  "Alec, she had the shakes…we all did, but she fell out of line in front of Lydecker.  We watched Jack do the same and he never came back."

"So you ran because of Max?"

"We ran because Zack told us to.  But Max was the cause of the order."

Alec stared at the wall and ran a hand down his face, "she never told me that."  He snorted. "Why am I surprised?"  

"Cause your good like that?"  Jondy smiled sweetly at him.

He turned toward her but she had the feeling that he wasn't really looking at her but something that played itself out behind his eyes.  "They switched our units around sometimes…" he smiled.  "We could've—" She tilted her head as she looked up at him and her brow pulled together.   "We could've known each other if you'd stayed." 

"We could've."  She agreed but smiled sadly.  "I think that our way was still best."

"I don't like admitting it, but you're probably right."

"What was it like?"

"What?" His eyes focused on her then, the color of jade in sunlight and she found it hard to breath for a second.

"Uh…oh yeah," she smiled, "Manticore.  What was it like growing up there?"

"Hard," he said simply.  "It was hard."

"Do I wanna know what they did to you?"

He shook his head, biting his lip gently.  "You got to learn about love through books, bad books, but still better then how I learned about it."

"Who was she?"

"Her name was Rachel," he whispered and looked down into his drink.  "She was…a mission."  Jondy didn't say anything.  "I killed her.  Not intentionally, I tried to stop it but I didn't fight back hard enough.  She—"

"She what, Alec?"

"She died this year after being in a coma all that time."   He dragged in a shuddering breath through his teeth.  "I was her piano teacher…she loved me."

"Alec," Jondy breathed the name and touched his cheek with the tips of her fingers.  He turned into the touch his lips brushing against the palm of her hand and she suddenly realized just how close they were sitting.  They'd moved towards each other as he talked, as though they could soothe the pain away with body heat alone.

He leaned closer.  His lips were so close to hers she could feel the heat coming from them, the barest hint of silky skin against her own.    "Jondy," he whispered, the words brushing against her lips so that she shivered and closed her eyes.  His body tensed to move even closer and suddenly a high annoying ring filled the quiet of the apartment.  They flew apart, eyes wide and searching the room before they both looked down at Alec's pocket.  

"You're ringing," she told him softly.

"Yeah.  I see that." He looked at her for a long moment before he answered it.  "Yeah, what can I do you for?"


End file.
